PICO may be a new way for you to think about and search for research information. You may consider using this worksheet to help develop your PICO question. Even experienced researchers rely on tools like this when beginning research!
Use these links to connect directly to PubMed or MEDLINE.
The PICO format helps you
Adapted from Developing a PICO Question Tutorial: Part 1 of a 2 part tutorial series from Marymount Library's PICO Tutorials.
The PICO model can help you formulate a good clinical question. Sometimes it's referred to as PICO-T, containing an optional 5th factor.
| P - Patient, Population, or Problem |
|
| I - Intervention |
|
| C - Comparison |
|
| O - Outcome |
|
| T - Time Factor, Type of Study (Optional) |
|
Clinical questions are categorized as background or foreground. Once you determine your question type you may want to use the "Asking PICOT Questions Template" document to develop your question.
Background Questions
Foreground Questions
Foreground questions can be further classified into four groups: diagnosis, therapy, prognosis, and etiology/harm. Certain study designs are better for answering particular question types.
| Question Type | Definition | Appropriate Study Types |
| Diagnosis | Questions addressing the act or process of identifying or determining the nature and cause of a disease or injury through evaluation |
Randomized Controlled Trial Cohort Studies |
| Therapy | Questions addressing how a clinical issues, illness or disability is treated |
Meta or Systematic Reviews Randomized Controlled Study Cohort Study |
| Prognosis | Questions addressing the prediction of the course of a disease |
Cohort Study Case Control Studies Case Studies |
| Etiology/Harm | Questions that address the causes or origin of disease, the factors which produce or predispose toward a certain disease or disorder |
Cohort Study Case Control Studies Case Series |
Adapted from:
