As part of my research on the Walden Library, I used the TRIP (Turning Research Into Practice) Database. The article I found was “Nursing interventions to support family caregivers in end-of-life care at home: A systematic narrative review”. It discussed the present lack of research into this subject and referenced multiple articles contributing to it (Becqué, 2019). It confirmed the positive effect of multicomponent interventions in this situation while finding few negative effects (Becqué, 2019). This provides a clear starting point for further research into the subject.
I had no difficulties searching for the article since I was browsing for relevant articles and not searching for anything in particular. However, the database offers robust search functionality with a special mode for searching by the full or partial patient, intervention, comparison, outcome (PICO) questions. Furthermore, the database’s search engine offers a strong and intuitive selection of filters for date, location, type of paper, and its output provide a quick reference to where its results fall on the evidence pyramid. These features make searching for a particular article or articles on a topic of interest easy. Alternatively, the same features allow one to find a selection of articles relevant to his or her research quickly and efficiently.
The database offers an experimental evidence map feature, which allows visualizing the articles and interventions related to a particular condition. It allows the search results to be filtered and organized by sample size and the number of articles about a specific intervention. Furthermore, it automatically assesses the risk of bias in the articles it presents and can be set to only display the results where this risk is low. However, as the feature is fully automated and currently in development, the reliability of its output can be questionable, as the developers transparently disclose. Nonetheless, this feature can facilitate one’s initial research into a subject, presenting an intuitive and visual representation of current knowledge on a condition.
The TRIP Database is open-access, meaning no additional credentials are required to search it. This makes it easy to recommend to a colleague without knowing to which databases or resources he or she has access. However, the open-access version is limited as some features of the database are only available to paid subscribers. Additionally, articles linked from TRIP can link to other medical databases, which may, in turn, require a subscription, further limiting the database’s open-access functionality.
In addition to its search features, TRIP offers simple lists of the latest and most popular articles by subject. This otherwise unremarkable search feature is made more relevant and useful to a researcher by the inclusion of evidence pyramid references. Together, these elements allow one to quickly appraise the volume of recent research on the desired topic and get a quick estimate of its quality. While the TRIP website claims that the latest articles are filtered by quality, I could not find the inclusion criteria, therefore, the output is not comprehensive and certain ones may be missing.
Overall, I think the TRIP Database is a useful tool, especially when starting one’s research into a subject of interest. Its support for PICO questions, visualization tools, search filters, and open-access nature combine to allow the researcher to find articles relevant to his or her research. It will be particularly interesting to see the database’s evidence map feature developed to offer more visualization options. However, when recommending it to a colleague, I would put a caveat warning of the relative lack of transparency in its quality standards.
References
Becqué, Y. N., Rietjens, J. A. C., van Driel, A. G., van der Heide, A., & Witkamp, E. (2019). Nursing interventions to support family caregivers in end-of-life care at home: A systematic narrative review.International Journal of Nursing Studies, 97, 28-39. Web.