The PICO framework helps you to formulate and structure your foreground question, breaking down a clinical scenario and enabling you to effectively trace the most relevant information sources you require for your research.
PICO is the acronym for Patient Intervention Comparison Outcome.
Examples of questions that it may be used for (not a conclusive list):
Treatment: establishing whether a particular treatment would benefit a patient
Diagnostic: confirm or exclude a diagnosis
Prognosis: estimate the likely course of a medical condition
Prevention: reduce the chances of disease by identifying risk factors
Gerrish, K. and Lacey, A. (eds.) (2010) The research process in nursing. 6th ed. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell.
Further examples of PICO questions:
After having identified the PICO concepts, you can develop keywords to find information sources to solve your clinical question. Search operators like AND/OR are needed to combine your keywords.
Please use the Search Strategy How to Guide for further help.
