Eleni tells us how a healthcare puzzle of her aunt’s inspires her to begin to find out about evidence-based medicine. She learns what evidence-based medicine is, why it matters and how evidence and practice are being championed and improved.

Hearing that her aunt needs medical help increases Eleni’s interest in where healthcare evidence comes from. She learns how clinical trials can be controlled and randomized, and what’s needed to make sure randomized controlled trials are well run.

Eleni wants to know where the most reliable healthcare evidence can be found and decides to explore systematic reviews. She learns about different kinds of systematic reviews, their advantages and limitations, how they’re done and what’s in each section of a finished review.

Eleni visits her aunt, who has a blood clot in her leg as a result of a 13-hour flight. Eleni wants to find out what she can do to avoid developing the same condition herself. She learns how to find a relevant Cochrane Review, understand its results and use it to make a shared decision with a healthcare professional.

Eleni has discovered the world of evidence-based medicine, and Cochrane evidence. Now she has found out that patients and carers have a really important role in Cochrane. She wonders, what can she do? How can she understand more about Cochrane? Where should she start? Follow Eleni’s continuing journey as she finds out about how to get involved and contribute to producing and sharing Cochrane evidence.

Eleni made friends with a knowledge broker and health scientist who taught her how to critically appraise rapid reviews. Understanding the strengths and weaknesses of a review proved to be useful when the COVID-19 pandemic broke out and Eleni wanted to get an evidence-based answer to her questions about vaccination.