Developing and stating a PICO Question

PICO questions are a helpful tool for developing research questions. They can be used in a variety of settings, from the clinical to the classroom. PICO questions are made up of four elements: 1. Population/Patient/Problem – who or what is your population of interest? 2. Intervention – what intervention are you considering? 3. Comparison – what is the comparison group or standard of care? 4. Outcome – what outcome are you interested in? The first step in developing a PICO question is to identify the key concepts in each of these elements. Once you have done this, you can then begin to formulate your question. Here is an example of a PICO question: In women with breast cancer, does tamoxifen (intervention) decrease the risk of recurrence compared to no tamoxifen (comparison)?

What is a PICO question?

PICO is an acronym that stands for Patient, Intervention, Comparator, and Outcome. A PICO question is a clinical question that uses the PICO format to articulate the key components of the question. For example, a PICO question might be: “In adult patients with obesity, does bariatric surgery (intervention) lead to more weight loss than lifestyle modification (comparator) over 12 months (outcome)?”

The PICO acronym can be expanded to include other important information about the clinical question, such as setting (e.g., primary care vs. specialty clinic), type of study (e.g., randomized controlled trial vs. observational study), and population (e.g., age, gender).

PICO questions are important in evidence-based medicine because they help to focus the search for evidence and allow for comparisons between different studies. When developing a PICO question, it is important to consult with a librarian or other expert in evidence-based medicine to ensure that the question is specific enough and that all of the relevant information has been included.

How to develop a PICO question

When developing a PICO question, it is important to first identify the key concepts that will be used in the question. These concepts should be related to the clinical problem or question that you are looking to answer. Once the key concepts have been identified, they can be used to generate a PICO question.

The PICO format is a specific way of structuring a clinical question in order to make it more searchable and answerable. A PICO question has four elements: patient/population, intervention, comparison, and outcome. Each element corresponds to a different part of the clinical question. By breaking down a clinical question into these four elements, you can develop a well-defined and focused PICO question.

The first step in developing a PICO question is to identify the patient or population of interest. This may be defined by age, gender, disease state, etc. Once the patient or population has been identified, the next step is to identify the intervention of interest. This could be a medication, procedure, lifestyle change, etc. The third step is to identify the comparison group for the intervention of interest. This could be no intervention at all, another intervention, or a placebo. Finally, the fourth step is to identify the desired outcome of interest. This could be any number of things such as survival rate, symptom relief, quality of life improvement, etc.

By breaking down a clinical question into these four elements (PATIENT/POPULATION

How to state a PICO question

In order to state a PICO question, you must first identify the problem or issue that you want to address. Once you have done this, you need to determine who your target population is and what interventions or treatments are available. From there, you can begin to formulate your question.

When creating a PICO question, it is important to make sure that it is clear and concise. You should also avoid making assumptions in your question. Once you have developed your question, you can then begin to search for evidence that will help answer it.

Conclusion 

PICO questions are a valuable tool for developing focused research questions. By breaking down the question into smaller, more manageable pieces, PICO questions can help you to better understand the issue at hand and develop a more targeted research question. Additionally, PICO questions can also help to ensure that your research is comprehensive and addresses all relevant aspects of the issue.