AskTrip launched just over two weeks old and we’ve already had over 600 questions – it’s been brilliant…. However, we’ve recognised two changes we’d like to make.

Spanish Language

We’re developing a Spanish-language version of the site, enabling users to ask questions in Spanish and receive answers in Spanish. To support this, we’ll duplicate the existing site and translate all content, including previously asked questions. If the launch proves successful, we plan to expand the platform to support additional languages. (see our earlier post Apoyando el uso del idioma español en Trip Database).

Limited Answers

We rate all answers based on the strength of the evidence used — High, Good, Moderate, or Limited (click here to understand our approach). Here’s the current breakdown:

636 total Q&As

  • 300 – high (47%)
  • 102 – good (16%)
  • 139 – moderate (22%)
  • 95 – limited (15%)

That means over a third of the questions have little supporting evidence. Interestingly, in the early days of manually answering clinical questions, clinicians often found it reassuring when no evidence was available – it confirmed that their uncertainty was valid.

Now, we’re exploring two ways to uncover more evidence:

  • Broaden the search – if the original question is too specific, we suggest alternative, broader questions that are more likely to return relevant evidence. For example, if the original question is about a specific drug, we might suggest one about the entire drug class instead.
  • Go beyond Trip – when manually answering questions in the past, if nothing was found in Trip, we extended the search to other databases and, occasionally, even to Google. While we’re not suggesting Google now, we could offer users the option to search beyond Trip, effectively broadening the net.

I’m genuinely excited about both the Spanish-language launch (as a Hispanophile, it’s a no-brainer!) and these new ways to broaden the search. With a bit of luck, both features will roll out this summer.