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Nursing: PICO

Four Elements of the Clinical Question

PICO: a mnemonic device to help formulate a clinical question and strategy by identifying key concepts

P	Patient/Population/Problem	Describe your patient or problem - be specific
I	Intervention/Indicator	What main intervention is being considered? Etiology, treatment, prognostic factor?
C	Comparison/Control (if necessary)	What is the main alternative to compare with the intervention?
O	Outcome	What is the goal of the intervention? What could be affected?

Patient

What are their important characteristics?

primary problem
state of disease/condition
sex
age
socioeconomic status

ALWAYS include in your search

Intervention

What do you want to do for the patient?

Education
Therapy
Order tests/procedure

ALWAYS include in your search

Comparison

What is the alternate intervention, if any?

Different procedure/test
No education
No medication

Sometimes include in your search

Outcome

What are you hoping to achieve, measure, or change for the patient?

Alleviate symptoms
Change test results
Behavior modification
Improve function
Reduce adverse effects/events

SOMETIMES include in your search

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