What Searches Do Users Run on PEDro? An Analysis of 893,971 Search Commands Over a 6-Month Period.
BACKGROUND
Clinicians must be able to search effectively for relevant research if they are to provide evidence-based healthcare. It is therefore relevant to consider how users search databases of evidence in healthcare, including what information users look for and what search strategies they employ. To date such analyses have been restricted to the PubMed database. Although the Physiotherapy Evidence Database (PEDro) is searched millions of times each year, no studies have investigated how users search PEDro.


OBJECTIVE
To assess the content and quality of searches conducted on PEDro.


METHODS
Searches conducted on the PEDro website over 6 months were downloaded and the 'get' commands and page-views extracted. The following data were tabulated: the 25 most common searches; the number of search terms used; the frequency of use of simple and advanced searches, including the use of each advanced search field; and the frequency of use of various search strategies.


RESULTS
Between August 2014 and January 2015, 893,971 search commands were entered on PEDro. Fewer than 18 % of these searches used the advanced search features of PEDro. 'Musculoskeletal' was the most common subdiscipline searched, while 'low back pain' was the most common individual search. Around 20 % of all searches contained errors.


CONCLUSIONS
PEDro is a commonly used evidence resource, but searching appears to be sub-optimal in many cases. The effectiveness of searches conducted by users needs to improve, which could be facilitated by methods such as targeted training and amending the search interface.
Matthew L. Stevens, The George Institute for Global Health, Sydney Medical School, University of Sydney, GPO Box 5389, Sydney 2001 NSW, Australia, E-mail: mstevens@georgeinstitute.org.au.
Matthew L
ML
Stevens
Anne
A
Moseley
Mark R
MR
Elkins
Christine C-W
CC
Lin
Chris G
CG
Maher
D016208:Databases, Factual; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D026741:Physical Therapy Modalities; D057386:Search Engine; D014584:User-Computer Interface
Information systems; PEDro; bibliographic databases; physiotherapy; search engines