PICO: A mnemonic device to help formulate a clinical question and search strategy by identifying key concepts.
P | Patient/Population/Problem | Describe your patient or the problem - be specific |
I | Intervention/Indicator | Treatment, cause, prognostic factor, etc. |
C | Comparison/Control | Compared to another treatment or standard of care (optional) |
O | Outcome | Improvement or negative effects? |
What are their most important characteristics?
Describe your patient specifically:
ALWAYS include this piece in your search.
What do you want to do for the patient?
Other considerations:
Almost always include this piece in your search.
What is the alternate intervention, if any?
It is less common to include this piece in a search
What are you hoping to achieve, measure, or change for the patient?
Could also be the result NOT desired.
Sometimes include this piece in your search.
1. Does hand washing (intervention) amongst healthcare workers (population) reduce hospital-acquired infection (outcome)?
2. Is vitamin C supplementation (intervention) as effective as Zinc supplementation (comparison) in reducing the length of a cold (outcome) in adult females (patient)?