| Developer(s) | TRIP Database Ltd |
|---|---|
| Type | Search Engine |
| License | Freeware |
| Website | TRIP Database |
The TRIP Database is a free clinical search engine. Its primary function is to help clinicians identify the best available evidence with which to answer clinical questions. Its roots are firmly in the world of Evidence-based medicine.
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The site was created in 1997 as a search tool to help the ATTRACT staff answer clinical questions for GPs in Gwent, South Wales. Shortly afterwards Bandolier highlighted the TRIP Database and this helped establish the site. In 2003, after a period of steady growth, TRIP became a subscription only service. This was abandoned In September 2006 and since then the growth in usage has been significant.
The core to TRIP’s system is the identification and incorporation of new evidence. The people behind TRIP are heavily involved in clinical question answering systems (e.g., NLH Q&A Service). Therefore, if resources are identified that are useful in the Q&A process they tend to be added to TRIP.
A site survey (September 2007) showed that the site is searched over 500,000 times per month, with 69% from health professionals and 31% from members of the public. Of the health professionals around 43% are doctors. Most users come from either the United Kingdom or the USA. In September 2008 the site was searched 1.4 million times.
At the end of 2009 TRIP had a major upgrade which saw significant new enhancements:
TRIP has an education tracker which allows users to record their activity on TRIP which can then be used, subject to local regulations, for revalidation/re-licensing. For further detail click here.
TRIP has recently launched an initiative for crowdsourcing the identification of content suitable for the developing world. Currently much of the evidence contained in TRIP is unsuitable for resource-poor setting - due to issue such as cost. By allowing users to indicate which articles are suitable it'll create a subset of data that users can view for a particular search term click here for further details.
In November 2008, TRIP released a new website, TRIP Answers. This is a repository of clinical Q&As from a variety of Q&A services, at launch it had over 5,000 Q&As and currently has over 6,300. This content has been integrated into TRIP,