Download - What is PICO?
Anatomy of a Good Research Question
PICO is a focused clinical question that consists of 3 or 4 of these concepts. Writing a PICO question facilitates the search process and identification of best evidence.
•P (Patient problem/characteristics)
•I (Intervention)
•C (Comparison Intervention, where applicable)
•O (Outcome)
Examples
PICO Example 1 With a comparison (C)
In a 30-year old male patient diagnosed with
depression (P), is St. John’s Wort (I) as effective as
SSRIs (C) for reducing depressive symptoms (O)?
•P (Patient problem/characteristics)
•I (Intervention)
•C (Comparison Intervention, where applicable)
•O (Outcome)
Example
PICO Example 2 Without a comparison (C)
In adults with back pain (P), does yoga therapy (I) (C)
reduce pain (O)?
•P (Patient problem/characteristics)
•I (Intervention)
•C (Comparison Intervention, where applicable)
•O (Outcome)