Dr. Rebecca Ryan

Qualifications

• BSc (Hons), PhD (Pharmacology).

Teaching areas

• Evidence-based public health (critical appraisal of studies, systematic reviews).

Professional involvement

• Within the Cochrane Collaboration: Overview methods working party, Plain language user testing group, Evidence Aid working group, Cochrane Consumer Network, Cochrane Consumers and Communication Group's Comorbidity and Communication working party.

Research interests

• Medicines use and medication issues.
• Risk communication and support for rare diseases.
• Communication and participation for people with multimorbidity.
• Overviews and tools for researching complex interventions for communication and participation.

Recent publications and presentations

PUBLICATIONS

• Kinnersley P, Edwards A, Hood K, Cadbury N, Ryan R, Prout H, Owen D, MacBeth F, Butow P, Butler C. Interventions before consultations for helping patients address their information needs. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2007, Issue 3. Art. No.: CD004565. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD004565.pub2.
• Kinnersley P, Edwards A, Hood K, Ryan R, Prout H, Cadbury N, MacBeth F, Butow P, Butler C. Interventions before consultations for helping patients address their information needs: systematic review. BMJ 2008; 337: a485
• Ryan R, Prictor M, McLaughlin KJ, Hill S. Audio-visual presentation of information for informed consent for participation in clinical trials. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2008, Issue 1. Art. No.: CD003717. DOI: 0.1002/14651858.CD003717.pub2.
• Pitkethly M, MacGillivray S, Ryan R. Recordings or summaries of consultations for people with cancer. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2008, Issue 3. Art. No.: CD001539. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD001539.pub2.
• Ryan R, Santesso N, Hill S, Kaufman C, Grimshaw J. Consumer-oriented interventions for evidence-based prescribing and medicine use: an overview of Cochrane reviews (Protocol). Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2008, Issue 4. Art. No.: CD007508. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD007508.
• Ryan R, Allen K, Hill S, Lowe D. Notification and support for people exposed to the risk of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) through medical treatment (iatrogenically) (Protocol). Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2009, Issue 1. Art. No.: CD007578. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD007578.
• Ryan R, Kaufman C and Hill SJ. Building blocks for meta-synthesis: data integration tables for summarising, mapping, and synthesising evidence on interventions for communicating with health consumers. BMC Medical Research Methodology 2009, 9:16 doi:10.1186/1471-2288-9-16. (http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2288/9/16)
• Evidence-based public health (critical appraisal of studies, systematic reviews).

PRESENTATIONS

• R. Ryan and S. Hill. Evidence overviews: prioritising areas for overview of systematic reviews of interventions for involvement of patients and carers in health care, Cochrane Colloquium, Melbourne, (workshop) 22-26 October, 2005.
• Ryan R and Hill S. (2005) Developing an overview of Cochrane systematic reviews: a framework for synthesising the evidence on interventions to improve people’s involvement in healthcare. Cochrane Colloquium, Melbourne (poster) October 2005.
• ‘Overviews of systematic reviews of interventions to communicate with and involve health consumers: one input to evidence-informed decision making’. By S. Hill and R. Ryan; seminar delivered by S. Hill to the National Institute of Clinical Studies Fellowship Program, 5 May 2006, Melbourne.
• ‘Overviews of systematic reviews of interventions to communicate with and involve consumers: one input to the development of evidence-informed policy and systems’. Invited paper by S. Hill and R. Ryan to the “Enabling evidence-informed patient choice by translating research evidence into patient information”, seminar, hosted by the Norwegian Knowledge Centre for the Health Services, The Norwegian Directorate for Health and Social Affairs, Oslo, 22 March 2006.
• ‘Evidence Synthesis and Overviews of Systematic Reviews: one input to policy making (and unraveling complexity)’. By S. Hill and R. Ryan; seminar delivered by S. Hill to the Cochrane EPOC workshop on Assessing Complex Interventions in Cochrane Systematic Reviews’, 18 May 2006, Melbourne.
• Misso M, Brennan S, Ryan R, Green S. (2006) Encouraging and supporting Australian policy makers to use Cochrane reviews – further reporting of a three year initiative. Cochrane Colloquium, Dublin October 2006.
• Stevens A, Santesso N, Ryan R, Hill S, Mayhew A, Graham S, Grimshaw J. Interventions to Facilitate Evidence-based Prescribing and Drug Use: Evidence to Inform Policy Making. Panel presentation, Canadian Agency for Drug and Technologies in Health Symposium, 22-24 April, 2007, Ottawa.
• Stevens A, Santesso N (presenter), Ryan R, Hill S, Mayhew A, Graham S, Grimshaw J. Interventions to Facilitate Evidence-based Prescribing and Drug Use: Evidence to Inform Policy Making. Part II: Interventions directed to consumers for drug use. Panel presentation, Canadian Agency for Drug and Technologies in Health Symposium, 22-24 April, 2007, Ottawa.
• Hill S, Ryan R, Santesso N, Graham S, Grimshaw J. 2007. Identifying, assessing, summarising and presenting evidence for prescribing and drug use interventions directed to consumers. Poster presentation. Guidelines International Network, 4th annual conference, 22-25 August, 2007, Toronto.
• Santesso N, Ryan R, Hill S, Grimshaw J. 2007. A Taxonomy of Interventions Directed at Consumers to Promote Evidence-Based Prescribing and Drug Use: A Tool for Evidence-Based Decision-Making. Poster presentation, Canadian Agency for Drug and Technologies in Health Symposium, 22-24 April, 2007, Ottawa.
• Santesso N, Hill S, Ryan R, Grimshaw J. Summarising and presenting evidence for prescribing and drug use consumer interventions. 15th Cochrane Colloquium. Sao Paulo, Brazil. October 27, 2007.
• Santesso N, Stevens A, Mayhew A, Ryan R, Hill S, Grimshaw J. Cochrane Inside: Working with national agency to create tools for decision makers. 15th Cochrane Colloquium. Sao Paulo, Brazil. October 25, 2007.
• Dilkes H, Hill S, Ryan R. Evidence for improving communication and participation: evaluation of Evidence Bulletin knowledge transfer. Poster presentation. 16th Cochrane Colloquium, 3-7 October 2008, Freiburg, Germany.
• Ryan R, Lowe D, Prictor M, Hill S Two reviews are better than one? Developing linkages between a qualitative review of methodologically-diverse studies, and a Cochrane intervention review. Poster presentation. 16th Cochrane Colloquium, 3-7 October 2008, Freiburg, Germany.
• Santesso N, Rosenbaum S, Strømme Nilsen E, Rader T, Pardo J, Ciapponi A, Hill S, Ryan R, Dilkes H. Development and evaluation of a format for Plain Language Summaries. 16th Cochrane Colloquium. Freiburg, Germany. October 4, 2008.
• Prictor M, Hill S, Ryan R. Tools and resources for reviews of complex interventions: a workshop by the Consumers and Communication Review Group. Workshop. 16th Cochrane Colloquium. Freiburg, Germany. October 2008.
• Hill S, Ryan R. Reviewing the evidence on notifying and supporting people at risk of CJD acquired through medical procedures, Presentation to the CJD Support Group Network Conference May 16 2008.

REPORTS

• Ryan R, Lowe D, Hill S, Mead C. (2008) Evidence on strategies for notifying and supporting consumers following exposure to the risk of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) through medical treatment: a review of the evidence. A report to the Department of Human Services, Victoria, Australia.
• Santesso N, Ryan R, Hill S and Grimshaw J (2006). Overview of Cochrane systematic reviews: Interventions directed to consumers for evidence based prescribing and drug use. Report to The Canadian Optimal Medication Prescribing and Utilization Service (COMPUS) on behalf of the Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health (CADTH). September 2006.
• Dilkes H, Ryan R and Hill S (2006). Technical report Evidence summaries: Cochrane reviews, Patient at the Centre of Care, for WHO WPRO. November 2006.
• Lin V, Fawkes S, Ehsani J, Hill S, Murphy G, Leggat S, Liu G, Rumbold B, Ryan R, and Howse G. (2005) Unpublished report for WHO. Patient at the centre: Reorienting health care practice to the 21st century, School of Public Health, La Trobe University.
• Spink J, Hill S, Ryan R and Rogers S (2004). Tools for the calculation and discussion of an individual’s absolute risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD): GPs’ and consumers’ views of the issues of format and communication.Final report to the National Vascular Disease Prevention Alliance and the Australian Department of Health and Ageing. September 2004.
• Ryan R, Round R, Bernath V, French S and Currie K (2003). Information finding and assessment methods that different groups of clinicians find most useful. Literature review. Prepared by the Centre for Clinical Effectiveness, Monash Institute for Health Services research, on behalf of the National Institute for Clinical Studies. March 2003.
• Ryan R, Currie K, Parkhill A., Turner T, and Campbell D. (2003). Does health services research improve health care outcomes? Literature review written and prepared by the Centre for Clinical Effectiveness, Monash Institute for Health Services Research, report to the National Health and Medical Research Council, November 2003.