Group Name:
Date:
PICO Worksheet
Original Revised
Define your Question using PICO
P
Describe
your patient, population or problem (age, sex, race, past medical
history, etc.), the disease, or main topic of your question.
I
What
intervention or action are you considering – treatment, diagnostic
test, etc. Is there a specific issue you’d like to investigate?
M
e
t
h
o
d
o
l
o
g
y
Which
research method (quantitative or qualitative) should be used to answer
the study question?
If
experimental, what research design
should be used to compare the intervention group with the comparison (or
control) group?
randomized
controlled trial
cohort
study
case
controlled studies
case
reports
systematic
reviews
meta
analysis
editorials/expert
opinions
C
Are
you trying to compare or decide between two options – drugs, a drug
and no medication or placebo, or two diagnostic tests? (Note: Your
clinical question does not always need a specific comparison.)
O
What is the outcome you’d like to achieve? What are you trying to do
for the patient? Relieve or eliminate the symptoms? Reduce the number of
adverse events? Improve function or test scores?
State
your Question resulting from PICO:
List keywords from your PICO question that can be used for your search.
List other criteria –gender, age, year of publication, or language to be used to limit your search.
Use the databases page from the Library website for suggestions.
List the databases you plan to search: i.e., CINAHL.
