Before you start your search, it is important to have a well-built question. One way to construct a well-built question is to use the PICO model. PICO stands for patient/population, intervention, comparison and outcomes.
| Patient/Population |
Intervention |
Comparison |
Outcomes |
|
Who is your patient?
How would you describe a group of patients similar to yours? What are the most important characteristics of the patient?
- Age, sex, race or patient
- Primary Problem
- Health status
|
What do you plan on doing for the patient?
Which main.intervention, prognostic factor or exposure are you considering?
- Diagnostic test
- Medication
- Procedure
|
What alternative are you considering? What is the main alternative to compare with the intervention?
- Another test, medication or procedure
- Watchful waiting
|
What do you wish to accomplish? What can you hope to accomplish, measure, improve or affect?
- Accurate diagnosis
- Relieve or improve symptoms
- Maintain function
|
Example: Is adherence to the Mediterranean Diet associated with reduced risk of heart attack?
| Patient/Population |
Intervention |
Comparison |
Outcomes |
- Adult
- History of heart disease
|
|
- Typical diet
- No comparison
|
- Reduction in heart attacks
|
When you go to search the databases, you may not use all these terms in your search. For instance, you may start out using only the terms Mediterranean Diet and heart attacks.
-
If you retrieve too many results, add more terms to your search, or add more specific terms.
-
If you retrieve too few results, use fewer or more broad terms.
credit: Medical College of Wisconsin Libraries: https://mcw.libguides.com/EBM/PICO
