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NURS-370 Introduction to Nursing Research

A course guide to accompany the classroom presentation.

Image with orange letters spelling PICOT with images under the letters and brief desciption under the image.

PICO is framework for asking well-worded questions and searching for evidence. The clinical question is worded to identify 4-5 components:

P: Patient or Population – What are the most important characteristics of the patients or people?

I: Intervention or Influence– What main intervention are you considering or what is a potentially beneficial or harmful influence?

C: Comparison – With what is the intervention or influence being compared?

O: Outcome – What is the estimated likelihood of a clinical outcome attributable to a specific disease, condition or injury?

(T): Time – What is the timeframe within which the outcome of an intervention is expected to be measured or observed?

  • A PICO(T) question sets out your research intent.
  • Searching in a database will include the major elements of the PICO(T) question, but may include synonyms or other adjustments in language to find appropriate results (keywords and subject terms)
Type of Question PICO(T) Template

Therapy
Treatment
Intervention

In _________ (Population), what is the effect of _________ (Intervention), in comparison to _________ (Comparative/alternate intervention) on _________ (Outcome) within _________ (Time)?

Diagnosis
Assessment

For _________ (Population), does _________ (Identifying tool/procedure) yield more accurate or more appropriate diagnostic/assessment information than _________ (Comparative tool/procedure) about _________ (Outcome) over _________  (Time)?
Prognosis

In _________ (Population), does _________ (Influence/exposure to disease/condition), relative to _________ (Comparative disease/condition OR absence of the disease/condition) increase risk of _________ (Outcome) during _________ (Time)?

Etiology (causation)
Harm

Are _________ (Patients) who have _________ (Influence/exposure/characteristic) compared with those without  _________ (Comparative influence/exposure OR lack of influence/exposure) at risk for _________ (Outcome) over _________ (Time)?