Trip Database
Posted on 12th August 2021 by Jon Brassey
Trip and Students 4 Best Evidence have worked together for many years, and members of S4BE get free access to Trip’s subscription version – Trip Pro. Trip has recently had a major revamp so now seems a good time to re-look at what Trip is and how it can be of benefit to S4BE members.
Trip is a search engine aimed at helping health professionals find evidence to support their practice in as little time as possible. It’s designed to be as simple as possible, so if you can use Google you can use Trip. There’s no complex ninja search techniques needed.
Simply add your search terms to the search box (see homepage above) and away you go. This is what the results page looks like:
The main results are in the middle of the page and to the left of these is the ability to restrict your results by evidence type e.g. systematic reviews, guidelines, etc. For Pro users you can also restrict by clinical areas such as cardiology, oncology and rheumatology.
Some of Trip’s other features include:
- SmartSearch – follows what you click and, based on that, suggest additional articles which are relevant
- Around 70% of all journal articles link out to full-text
- Different search interfaces i.e. searching by PICO (Population, Intervention, Comparison and Outcomes) and Advanced search option
- Ability to export to reference management software
- Dedicated category of Randomized Controlled Trials (RCTs), automatically assessed for bias by RobotReviewer
- A list of ongoing trials and systematic reviews
- Record areas of interest and get emails of the latest evidence in the areas you’ve selected
- Ability to search videos and images
Having a list of features is all well and good but the easiest way to understand and appreciate Trip is to use it. So, login to S4BE and go to the ‘Welcome’ page to get the instructions for how to upgrade your account and give it a go.
Now a note from the S4BE! As Jon has described above, Trip has had quite a revamp so we would also like to update this blog which was written by Alice Buchan in 2013. If you are a current student and are interested in writing a review blog then please get in touch by emailing: general@students4bestevidence.net
Useful further learning resources:
Conducting a systematic literature search
Reviewing the evidence: what method should I use?
