Find below an extensive selection of search tips to optimise use of the TRIP Database
Switching between the material searched
TRIP allows users to search for ‘Evidence’ as well as ‘Medical images’ and ‘Patient information leaflets’. To switch between these different search types simply press on the appropriate tab given above the search box (on the home page). On the results page you can simply press on the tab at the top of the results. For those interested in evidence based medicine (or evidence based practice) the ideal starting point is the 'evidence' tab (which is the default setting).
Phrase Searching
The TRIP Database supports phrase searching. This is achieved by placing the phrase in quotation marks e.g. "prostate cancer"
Boolean
Simple Boolean searching (AND, OR) is supported, so a searcher can input ‘breast or ovarian’
Brackets
Brackets can be used to refine the search and can be used in combination with Boolean. For instance, if you were interested in the effects of mumps or measles in pregnancy you would search '(mumps or measles) and pregnancy'
Synonyms
TRIP includes a powerful synonyms dictionary that will also improve searching. For instance if 'IBS' is entered 'Irritable Bowel Syndrome' will also be simultaneously searched.
Stemming
There is a stemming character '*'. Therefore, if you want to search for cancer, cancerous and cancers simple type cancer* and it will find every term starting with 'cancer' e.g. cancer, cancerous etc.
Mis-spelling
The mis-spelling feature will be used if no search results are found. If no results are found from your initial search term the system will automatically check for mis-spellings suggest an alternative search term.
Specialisation
The specialisation function has a drop-down menu of clinical specialities. The specialisation feature allows users to restrict searches of PubMed to core journals in a clinical area. PubMed currently indexes over 4,000 journals so by restricting a search to up to 20 key journals in a clinical speciality the results better serve the user.
By selecting a speciality the last search is repeated with your chosen specialisation. NOTE: this specialisation only applies to the searching of PubMed.
Advanced Search
Advanced search allows users to search TRIP using the original ‘title’ and ‘title and text’ distinction. The search defaults to searching for keywords in the title of a document. However, users can change to searching for keywords in the ‘title and text’ of the document. The most usual way of using this is to use the ‘Title’ search for the condition and the ‘title and text’ search for an intervention. Each search on the advanced search is given a search number #1, #2 etc.
Example search
#1 = title search for ‘asthma’
#2 = ‘title and text’ search for ‘steroids’
These two searches are combined
#1 and #2 = #3
#3 returns documents with ‘asthma’ in the title, which also includes the term ‘steroids’ anywhere in the document.
If you have completed many searches there may be too many numbered searches in the system. These can be removed by pressing the ‘Clear’ link.
Search Help
If you having difficulty with the search and need specific help please contact us using the form on the 'Contact Us' page (follow the link at the top of this page).
