TRIP Database

27/05/2026

Much of evidence production is shaped by the research agenda: what gets funded, studied, reviewed and turned into guidance.

But clinical practice creates its own agenda too.

It appears in the questions clinicians repeatedly ask: about safety, applicability, multimorbidity, conflicting guidance and messy real-world care.

Perhaps EBM needs to ask not only “what evidence exists?” but also “what are clinicians trying to find out?”

Evidence-based medicine has spent decades improving the supply of evidence: trials, systematic reviews, guidelines, summaries and search tools. But there is another side we understand much less wel…

17/04/2026

Positive feedback is encouraging. Negative feedback is often more useful.

A recent critique of an AskTrip answer highlighted a deeper issue: not just whether AI cites evidence, but whether it can recognise when that evidence may itself be unreliable.

That feedback has already pushed us to think about adding RIAT-related signals and Expressions of Concern into how we assess papers.

We get regular feedback on AskTrip’s answers and yesterday we got two in quick succession. The first was a question about the diagnosis of bladder cancer and the person who asked it left this…

10/04/2026

Why strong evidence doesn’t always mean a good answer

Frameworks like the GRADE Working Group help us judge how much we can trust evidence.

But they don’t tell us whether an answer is good.

In practice:
• Strong evidence can be poorly used
• Weak evidence can be well explained

At AskTrip, we separate these into:
Evidence Strength (GRADE-inspired, with Trip-based downgrades)
Answer Quality (does it actually answer the question, faithfully and appropriately?)

We’re currently testing this approach, with a planned release in early May.

A small shift—but an important one:
not just “how good is the evidence?”
but “how good is the answer?”

Full blog:
https://blog.tripdatabase.com/2026/04/09/from-grade-to-asktrip-evaluating-evidence-and-evaluating-answers/

11/03/2026

A record week for AskTrip - and what it tells us about clinical uncertainty

Last week was a milestone for AskTrip.
For the first time, we answered more than 500 clinical questions in a single week - reaching 542.

What struck me most was not just the number, but the range of real-world clinical uncertainty behind those questions.

The week began with a prescribing safety question: What adverse effects might occur when carbamazepine and oxycodone are co-administered for pain management?

And it ended with a rehabilitation effectiveness question: What is the effectiveness of adding manual therapy to exercise therapy in adults with chronic non-specific low back pain?

Both relate to pain, yet they sit at very different points in the clinical journey; from drug interactions and risk to non-pharmacological management and functional outcomes.

That diversity is exactly what AskTrip is designed for: helping clinicians navigate uncertainty quickly using the best available evidence.

Crossing the 500-question mark in a week is more than a statistic. It reflects growing trust in AI-supported evidence retrieval — and the continuing need for better access to reliable answers at the point of care.

If you’d like to read more about this record week:

Last week marked a milestone for AskTrip; for the first time, we answered more than 500 clinical questions in a single week, reaching a new high of 542 questions answered. Interestingly, the week b…

23/12/2025

Why hybrid search may be the future of evidence-based healthcare search

Clinical search has long depended on keywords. While effective, this approach assumes users know the exact terms used by authors - and that’s a big assumption.

Vector search offers a different model: retrieving evidence based on semantic similarity rather than literal wording. In our latest experiments at Trip, we’ve combined both approaches into a hybrid system that runs keyword and vector search side by side.

The results show clear benefits. Hybrid search can surface clinically relevant evidence that traditional search would miss, without relying on heavy manual synonymisation. At the same time, it makes transparent how results were found - something clinicians value deeply.

We’re continuing to develop this technology with a clear principle in mind: users remain in control. Vector and hybrid search will be optional, not imposed.

As we refine the balance between precision and discovery, this work marks a significant step forward in how Trip and AskTrip may support evidence-based decision-making.

Full details here:
https://blog.tripdatabase.com/2025/12/23/more-work-on-vector-search/

22/12/2025

What’s Capturing Attention on AskTrip? Explore the Most Viewed Q&As

We’re excited to introduce a new way to explore content on AskTrip — you can now browse Q&As by Most viewed! This feature lets you quickly see which evidence-based questions are getting the most engagement from professionals and information specialists alike. Dive in and see what’s trending:
https://blog.tripdatabase.com/2025/12/22/whats-capturing-attention-on-asktrip/

29/07/2025

Actualmente estamos probando la versión en español de AskTrip, nuestro sistema automatizado de preguntas y respuestas clínicas basadas en evidencia.

Ya contamos con algunos profesionales sanitarios hispanohablantes que nos están ayudando en esta fase, pero nos encantaría contar con más participantes.

Si es profesional de la salud y le interesa probar el sistema (y ofrecernos algunos comentarios), no dude en escribirme: [email protected]

We're currently testing the Spanish-language version of AskTrip — our automated, evidence-based clinical question answering system.

A few Spanish-speaking health professionals are already helping us test it, but we'd love to involve more.

If you're a Spanish-speaking clinician and interested in trying it out (and sharing a bit of feedback), just drop me a line: [email protected]

26/07/2025

AskTrip is doing amazingly well - nearly 1,300 Q&As already! You can browse them all here: https://www.tripdatabase.com/ask/archive

And currently being tested, a Spanish version of AskTrip: https://blog.tripdatabase.com/2025/07/22/asktrip-en-espanol-un-adelanto-exclusivo-asktrip-in-spanish-a-sneak-preview/

Evidence-based answers for health professionals | Searching sources such as systematic reviews, clinical guidelines and RCTs

26/06/2025

AskTrip is live – instant, evidence-based clinical answers powered by AI

We’re thrilled to officially launch AskTrip, our automated clinical Q&A system, now available to all users of Trip Database.

What is AskTrip?

AskTrip brings together the speed of AI with over 25 years of Trip’s experience in evidence-based medicine. It answers your clinical questions in under 30 seconds – and every answer links to the original evidence, so you can trust what you see and dig deeper when needed.

AskTrip offers:

• Transparent, referenced answers
• Filtering by clinical area, question type, and evidence quality
• Free access (3 questions/month) – unlimited for Pro users
• Optimised for mobile use
• Embeddable in third-party websites and intranets

Whether you want to ask a new question, browse past queries, or search our growing collection, AskTrip is designed to help health professionals make faster, better-informed decisions.

We’re grateful to our amazing beta testers, developers, and designer – especially Phil, whose work has taken this project to the next level. 🙌

Try it out, push it to its limits, and tell us what you think. Your feedback will help us shape the future of AskTrip. Together, we can turn good evidence into great care – instantly.

For further information see: https://blog.tripdatabase.com/2025/06/25/asktrip-is-live-automated-clinical-qa-instantly/

31/03/2025

Trip’s Automated Clinical Q&A is Ready for Beta Testing – and We’re Inviting You to Join

We’re excited to share that our automated clinical question-answering system is now in beta testing. This is the next big step in our mission to make high-quality, evidence-based answers more accessible to clinicians—faster and more reliably than ever before.

What makes this different?
✅ It combines Trip’s unrivalled collection of high-quality clinical evidence
🤖 With the power of AI to generate fast, accurate, and trustworthy answers
🧠 Built specifically to support decision-making in real-world clinical practice

We’re now looking for clinicians, researchers, and health professionals to help test the system. Your feedback will help us fine-tune and improve the tool before wider release.

If you're passionate about evidence-based medicine and curious about how AI can support clinical decisions, we’d love to have you involved.

🔗 Learn more and sign up to be a beta tester:

We’re excited (and a little nervous!) to share something we’ve been working hard on. After resolving many of the early teething issues, we’re now ready for real-world testing — an…