How to write a pico question

PICO Examples

Describe as accurately as possible the patient or group of patients of interest. What is the main intervention or therapy you wish to consider? Including an exposure to disease, a diagnostic test, a prognostic factor, a treatment, a patient perception, a risk factor, etc.

A good PICO will be specific and define terms and outcomes if necessary. A good PICO will investigate something new in terms of diagnosis, etiology, therapy, harm, etc. A bad PICO is usually a background question disguised as a research question.

The PICO format is commonly used in evidence-based clinical practice. This format creates a “well-built” question that identifies four concepts: (1) the Patient problem or Population, (2) the Intervention, (3) the Comparison (if there is one), and (4) the Outcome(s).

The PICO (population, intervention, control, and outcomes) format [Table 1] is considered a widely known strategy for framing a “foreground” research question.

These types of questions typically ask who, what, where, when, how & why about things like a disorder, test, or treatment, or other aspect of healthcare. For example: What are the clinical manifestations of menopause? What causes migraines?

A clinical question needs to be directly relevant to the patient or problem at hand and phrased in such a way as to facilitate the search for an answer. PICO makes this process easier. It is a mnemonic for the important parts of a well-built clinical question.

Clinical questions typically fall into one of four main categories: Etiology (or harm/risk factors): What causes the problem? Diagnosis: Does this patient have this problem? Therapy: What is the best treatment for this problem? Prognosis: What will the outcome of the problem be?

Examples of broad clinical research questions include:

Does the administration of pain medication at time of surgical incision reduce the need for pain medication twenty-four hours after surgery? What maternal factors are associated with obesity in toddlers?

When well built, clinical questions usually have four components: P: The patient situation, population, or problem of interest. I: The main intervention, defined very broadly, including an exposure, a diagnostic test, a prognostic factor, a treatment, a patient perception and so forth.

The first step in the evidence-based practice (EBP) process is to identify the clinical problem or question for which you are seeking evidence. Asking a focused and relevant question about your client’s situation will inform your search.

Third, it directs the questioner to clearly identify the problem, intervention, and outcomes related to specific care provided to a patient. The PICO model is also frequently used as a tool for structuring clinical research questions in connection with evidence syntheses (e.g., systematic reviews).

To ask more focused clinical questions, use the “PICO” acronym: patient (or disease), intervention (a medicine or test), comparison (another medicine, placebo or test) and outcome. By having access to just a few evidence-based resources, you can find answers to your clinical questions with little time or effort.