Readers would be very familiar with PEDro as a database of physiotherapy research but this isn’t the only resource offered by PEDro these days, is it?

The Physiotherapy Evidence Database, or PEDro for short, is 23 years old, so many readers will have used or heard of it at some point.

PEDro is principally a database containing high quality quantitative research about the effects of physiotherapy interventions.

It is an unmatched evidence resource for physiotherapists globally and it contains more than 56,000 randomised controlled trials, systematic reviews and evidence- based clinical practice guidelines.

The website is available in 17 languages.

Many people may not know that in addition to the database, PEDro has resources to support learning about and understanding how to implement evidence-based practice.

For example, there are blogs and video tutorials on how to ask a clinical question, search for evidence and access full-text copies of research articles.

You can sign up to have personalised evidence delivered to their email to keep abreast of the latest research in their field via the PEDro Evidence in your Inbox service.

You can interpret evidence alongside experts via a five-step process used in the PEDro World-Wide Journal Club series.

The PEDro Partnership has also established DiTA, the Diagnostic Test Accuracy database, which is a resource indexing evidence-based diagnostic test studies related to physiotherapy practice.

PEDro is also currently running a campaign called #PEDroTacklesBarriers to tackle the four biggest barriers to evidence-based physiotherapy: time, language, lack of access and lack of statistical skills.

There is a lot happening at PEDro but maintaining and updating the database remains our key priority.

The Journal of Physiotherapy editorial listed the advantages of becoming a rater of trials for PEDro.

As a not-for-profit initiative, I guess you appreciate the support of people who contribute to PEDro in this way.

PEDro is dependent on the contribution of its raters.

Geraldine Wallbank.

A unique feature of PEDro is that each of the trials included in the database has been assessed for methodological quality by two trained raters.

This means that users of the database can refer to the rating as a guide when searching for articles.

As time goes on, however, the volume of trials is expanding at an exponential rate.

This means that many more people are needed to assist with rating trials than ever before in order to keep PEDro up to date as a sustainable, free resource for all.

If someone wasn’t sure if they had the skills to be a rater, what would you say to them?

Try it out. PEDro offers training to help people learn the skills to rate trials. Training is aimed at anyone interested in learning to rate trials and is available in English and Portuguese.

A good way to find out about rating is to do the PEDro scale training program.

You will be taught how to use the PEDro scale and how to give a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ rating for items on the scale.

It takes a few hours and is a guided process. At the end of the program, you can test yourself to confirm your proficiency.

How is the training delivered?

You can access the training program from anywhere in the world, at any time because the program is delivered fully online.

The program contains text and video content and because it’s self-paced, you can pause or repeat the content at any point.

If you need support during the program, there is a contact form in the portal for submitting your queries.

It’s possible to do the training program in a few hours, but you will be given three months to finish it.

At the end of the program, you can submit your accuracy test responses via the PEDro training program portal to check whether your responses are similar to other raters.

The portal is secure and confidential. Everyone who successfully completes the training and passes the accuracy test is invited to become a PEDro rater.

How many trials do you need to rate and will they be in subdisciplines that interest you?

There is quite a bit of flexibility when we set you up as a PEDro rater.

The number of articles you’d like to rate each month can be tailored to suit you as well as the area of physiotherapy practice in which you’d prefer to receive trials.

Since PEDro contains physiotherapy trials published in all languages, if you are fluent in a language other than English we’d like to hear about that too.

We also understand that there may be times when you have more or less capacity to rate trials so we can adjust the number of articles you are assigned accordingly.

Click here if you would like to become a PEDro rater. And check out #PEDroTacklesBarriers for more about the current PEDro campaign.

>> Geraldine Wallbank APAM is the Senior Project Officer at the Physiotherapy Evidence Database, based in the Institute for Musculoskeletal Health at the University of Sydney and Sydney Local Health District.