How to write a PICO Question for Nursing Class

This post will provide you with helpful tips on how to write a PICO Question for your nursing change management or capstone project. Writing exceptional nursing papers begins with challenging what is in the literature. As a result, nursing research papers must be critical, well-reasoned, and insightful.

You have every incentive to finish this essay, given the necessity of formulating PICO questions and producing PICOT statements. Sometimes it is challenging to craft a good PICOT question. However, at assignment help website, we have pro writers who can produce an outline for your nursing research paper or term paper. Our nursing term paper and capstone writers can help you with the procedure. They can also help you to write amazing picot question examples

The stages of writing an EBP paper have previously been covered in our nursing evidence-based paper guide. This article will take you through the steps of drafting a PICOT question as an assignment, section, or a brief nursing essay for your EBP research paper. We want to make it simple for students to comprehend and construct clinical research questions.

PICOT Question vs. PICOT Statement

A PICOT question is a detailed, precise, and pertinent clinical research question derived from an analysis of practice difficulties or a patient case scenario.

A PICOT statement, on the other hand, is a statement derived from the PICOT question that describes the direction of an intervention or evidence-based practice. It specifies the evidence-based practice or change necessary in practice or to remedy a clinical condition, narrowing the scope of a PICOT inquiry.

 

It specifies the evidence-based practice or change necessary in practice or to remedy a clinical condition, narrowing the scope of a PICOT inquiry. 

Writing a good PICOT question entails coming up with a solution to a problem.  It should be answerable, researchable, and evidence-based.

What does Picot stand for:

P: Population/patient: variables such as age, gender, ethnicity, and persons with a specific condition might be included.

I: Intervention/Indicator: This is the variable that you’re interested in, such as illness exposure, prognostic factors, or dangerous conduct.

C Stands for comparison or control, and it relates to the absence of a risk factor, a placebo, or a prognosis factor B.

O: The outcome, such as diagnostic accuracy, rate of occurrence of a negative event, or disease risk.

T: Time refers to how long a specific Intervention takes to produce a desired result or how long the participants are watched for.

How to write a Good PICOT question and Sound Professional

PICOT comprises five essential aspects, as indicated in the mnemonic analysis above, which we will now examine one by one.

Population

The population refers to the individuals you focus on while writing a PICOT statement or inquiry. It might, for example, be a population in a certain geographic region suffering from an illness such as diabetes, heart disease, cancer, or psychological/mental disorders.

Gender, age, ethnicity, status, employment, and the medical issue of concern can all be used to further restrict the population. These groups are considered a demographic for interest in a nurse change management plan due to the prevalence of these criteria.

When choosing a population, make sure it’s narrowed down to a single patient who represents the complete population for the findings to be generalizable.

Intervention

The interventions are acts taken to improve the patient’s well-being or health. Music or art therapy, for example, can be utilized to promote the well-being of individuals suffering from mental illnesses such as stress. You must ask yourself the following questions:

What is the best treatment option for the patient?

What is the priority issue?

A pharmacologic intervention, such as medication, surgery, diagnostic testing/imaging, or a non-pharmacologic action, such as patient education, pressure monitoring, or lifestyle adjustment, can be used.

Comparison

As the term implies, you must compare your target demographic to one that is the polar opposite. The goal is to demonstrate the effectiveness of the planned modification, intervention, treatment method, diagnostic testing, follow-up, patient education, or lifestyle change.

It is the alternative to the intervention that you are comparing. Because the PICO approach requires each entry to be completed in a step-by-step manner, you must use data from the population and intervention to complete the comparison.

The intervention can be compared to other therapies, placebos, medications, or diagnostic testing. You can eliminate the possibility of prejudice or misjudgment by comparing.

When creating a PICO inquiry, you may see that there is nothing to compare. However, you should not be alarmed if this is the case; it is to be anticipated.

Outcome

It’s time to describe what you expect to find after finishing the research on a group with a specific intervention vs those with no intervention and providing a comparison. As a result, the results denote the desired action or activity of interest. If you’re conducting a study, this is the stage where you present your findings.

Statistical data or qualitative claims with rigor, relevance, and authenticity might be the result. It can take the form of disease risk, risk of a negative effect, rate of occurrence of a negative outcome, or diagnostic accuracy.

For accuracy, you can write the outcomes from the patient’s perspective or from the disease’s perspective. In some cases, you can combine the two to arrive at a definitive conclusion.

Period of time

In the next three months Or in less than a week.

Some guides will end with PICO instead of T, omitting the T that stands for time. The timeframe isn’t so much a necessary parameter as it is a measurement of how long it takes for a given intervention to produce a given result. It also refers to the duration of the participants’ observation. Unless otherwise requested, include the time in both your PICO statement and the PICOT question.

Types of PICOT Statement or Questions

In clinical practice, evidence-based research aids in the drawing of findings and making firm judgments. The development of techniques that lead to the discovery of relevant academic material is aided by asking well-designed clinical queries. It is necessary to ask foreground and background questions prior to formulating the PICOT question.

The background questions are about broad knowledge about the ailment or behavior, whereas the foreground questions are about particular knowledge that influences therapeutic actions or judgments. Furthermore, as shown below, these questions have various foci.

1. Therapy Inquiries concerning a treatment used to attain a certain result are known as therapy-related questions. Depending on the demographic of interest, it might include counseling, education, lifestyle modifications, follow-up, and surgical procedures.

Is turmeric tea more helpful than Plaquenil at reducing joint discomfort in adult patients with SLE, for example?

This is the template:

How(P)does(P)it(P)it(P)it( Affect (I) vs. (C). inside (O) (T)

2. Avoidance

The prevention-related questions aid in determining how something may be prevented or its effects minimized in order to stop it from spreading. As a result, when employing the PICO framework method, you must look into the possibility of taking preventative actions against a patient’s condition and reporting the predicted results.

This may be done using the following template:

When compared to. (C), utilizing a certain preventative strategy Y. (I) resulted in fewer days lost at work (O) over time (T)

What are the differences in the presence and kinds of organisms (O) discovered on natural polished nails and nail beds (I) and artificial nails (C) at the time of operation (T) in the OR?

3. Make a diagnosis

The diagnosis-related PICO questions are concerned with determining a patient’s disorder. A patient with certain symptoms is diagnosed or tested. It serves as a starting point for your study since it identifies the ailment of focus that has been niched down. Given the symptoms that patients with a range of ailments may encounter, it aids in narrowing down to a specific condition. The PICO for diagnosis or diagnosis test looks at which test is the most accurate and exact in diagnosing a problem.

This may be done using the following template:

When compared to. (C) More accurate in diagnosing (O)

Is a PKU test (I) performed on two-week-old newborns (P) more accurate in diagnosing inborn metabolic errors (O) than a PKU test performed at 24 hours of age (C)? Two weeks have passed and it is now 24 hours old.

4. The likelihood of recovery

The prognosis-related PICO questions, also known as prediction-related PICO questions, are used to forecast the clinical course of an illness over time, as well as the likelihood of complications. Understanding how a disease progresses is essential for making clinical decisions. Inquiring about the likelihood of a disease arising, how far it has progressed, and the impacts it is expected to have over time is beneficial. It aids in the development of treatment programs and the planning of therapy.

This may be done using the following template:

When compared to (P), how does(I) (C). over (O) influence (T)

Example: How does the usage of an influenza vaccination (I) relative to those who have not received the vaccine (C) affect the risk of pneumonia (O) during flu season (T) for patients 65 years and older (P)?

5. Causes/Affects

Finally, etiology-related inquiries are employed to identify the most significant risk factors or causes of a disorder. These questions assist doctors in determining where to begin when determining what works and what does not for a certain patient population. It can also aid in the development of a new treatment strategy once prior approaches have failed.

This may be done using the following template:

Those who have(I) are compared to those who do not. (C) in danger of (O) finished (T)

Is it true that children (P) with obese adoptive parents (I) have a higher risk of obesity (O) than children (P) without fat adoptive parents (C) between the ages of five and 18 (T)?

Melnyk, B. M., and Fineout-Overholt, E. (2011). Evidence-based nursing and healthcare practice: A roadmap to optimum practice. Wolters Kluwer/Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Philadelphia

Components of various PICOT Questions/Statements

Question Types	Patient/Population	Intervention	Comparison	Outcome Measures
Treatment	The disease or condition of the patient	A therapeutic measure such as a change in lifestyle, education, counseling, surgery, or medication	Other interventions, the standard of care, or a placebo	The mortality rate, the number of days lost from work, or the degree of disability.
Prevention	The patient’s risk factors and overall health	A preventive measure, such as medication or a change in lifestyle		Disease prevalence, mortality rate, and days lost from work
Diagnosis	The disease or condition under consideration	A diagnostic procedure or test		Test utility measures such as sensitivity, specificity, and odds ratio.
Prognosis	Clinical problems in terms of duration and severity are the most important prognostic factors.	The exposure of interest is usually expressed as time, which is sometimes expressed as watchful waiting.		Rates of survival, mortality, and disease progression
Etiology	Risk factors, current health disorders, or general health condition of the patient	The intervention of interest exposure includes indicating the strength of the risk factor as well as the duration of exposure.	It does not apply in this case.	Incidence of disease, rate of disease progression, or mortality rate

 

Examples of PICOT Questions

1. What is the effect of non-NPO versus NPO for 8 hours before to the surgery on recovery issues within 4 days following the treatment in patients undergoing elective procedures?
2. Is bariatric surgery better than medication intervention for managing blood sugar in persons with type 2 diabetes?
3. Does fasting for three months reduce weight in people (18-55) diagnosed with obesity when compared to a calorie-restricted diet?
4. What is the effect of a nurse-patient education intervention on the rate of flu vaccination in patients aged 65 and up compared to no nurse-patient education intervention?
5. What is the effect of home care nurse visits on the rate of falls in patients 65 and older compared to no home care nurse visits?
6. In primigravid women who have suffered a miscarriage, what effect does the adoption of a clinical guideline for compassionate follow-up care have on anxiety three months after the miscarriage compared to no implementation of a clinical guideline?
7. Does Integrated Treatment Reduce Depression Symptoms in Adult Diabetic Patients with Depression?
8. In heart failure patients aged 65 and older, how does RE-AIM discharge screening and follow-up compare to standard self-care in terms of unplanned re-admission in 30 days? What are the patients’ and registered nurse’s opinions of the RE-AIM framework when using the protocol?
9. Can people with type 2 diabetes aged 18 to 55 increase their A1C by taking a 4-week diabetes class vs not taking one?

Is it true that using a ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) bundle reduces the risk of ventilator-associated pneumonia in critically sick patients admitted to the intensive care unit?

11. What is the least dosage of manipulation required in persons with chronic neck pain to generate a clinically significant improvement in neck pain when compared to supervised exercise after 6 weeks?
12. How does screening for postpartum depression at the two-week newborn checkup vs waiting until the six-week postpartum appointment improve the outcome of postpartum depression therapy in postpartum women?
13. Can individuals with type 2 diabetes aged 18 to 55 increase their A1C by taking a four-week diabetes class vs not taking one?
14. Do individuals with type 2 diabetes aged 18 to 55 years increase their A1C when a four-week diabetes class is introduced vs no class?
15. Does physical activity help individuals with colorectal cancer manage their signs and symptoms and minimize bodily pain? (This is more of an EBP query)

Evidence-Based PICOT Question Examples

1. Can a four-week diabetes self-management education program given through a patient portal to a web-enabled device in an SMS platform[I]improve the patient’s self-care knowledge and practices, as well as the SMBG daily average, in adult patients with diabetes type 2 [p] within three months [T]?
2. Is a more comprehensive and multidisciplinary approach to patient education, compared to standard patient education, more effective at improving blood glucose control in persons with type 2 diabetes?
3. Is Diabetes Self-Management Education (DSME) more effective than no DSME in giving newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes patients the tools to regulate their condition and self-management behavior?
4. Are diabetic individuals with a low socioeconomic status more likely to develop diabetes complications or have poor clinical outcomes than diabetic adults with a higher socioeconomic status?
5. Is there a role for age in the healing effectiveness of diabetic foot ulcers treated with negative pressure wound therapy?
6. Why isn’t NPWT used instead of normal saline wound care in hospitals for patients with foot ulcers?
7. Do statins improve mortality or morbidity in Diabetes Mellitus patients with LDL levels already over 1000 compared to no statin medication or a placebo?
8. Is it true that listening to music in the perioperative setting reduces anxiety and postoperative pain in surgical patients?
9. When compared to standard/no barcoding, can medical barcoding reduce drug delivery mistakes in hospitalized pediatric patients?
10. Will the use of an epinephrine autoinjector device in pediatric code teams managing a simulated pediatric anaphylaxis scenario reduce medication errors (dose, concentration, site) and reduce time to medication administration during pediatric anaphylaxis compared to standard epinephrine administration from a code cart?
11. Does obtaining medicine from RCAs minimize the rate of medical mistakes in patients over 65 years in residential care when compared to receiving medication from RNs?
12. Do measures to minimize distractions during medication passes reduce medication administration errors MAEs for nurses in acute care settings when compared to non-protected passes?
13. Will the establishment of a Quiet Zone (I) vs no intervention (c) minimize interruptions and distractions, as well as decrease medication pass time and increase medication safety for nurses providing medications during 9 a.m. medication pass time (p)? (o).
14. How efficient is PCA pain medicine I compared to PRB IM medicine in treating postoperative pain in adult patients with complete hip replacements (p)? (o).
15. Can COX-2 inhibitors reduce the risk of GI bleeding in a 72-year-old woman with osteoarthritis of the knee when compared to other NSAIDs?
16. Does early aphasia therapy (SLP services) accomplish functional communication capacities in stroke patients with aphasia (P) compared to aphasia treatment after initial or spontaneous recovery time (c)? (O).
17. How does medication education, compared to no medication teaching, affect medication adherence and blood pressure in hypertensive patients?
18. Will periodontitis, when compared to no periodontitis, increase the chance of miscarriage or a poor pregnancy outcome in pregnant women?
19. Does postpartum depression as measured by the PPD Questionnaire predict the health condition of children by the age of 5 years compared to depression as measured by the Child Health Inventory Scale at 5 years among postpartum mothers?
20. Does the combination of SSRIs and CBT/Psychotherapy, as opposed to CBT/Psychotherapy alone, lessen depression or enhance mental health outcomes in adolescents with depression or severe depressive disorders
21. Let’s look at more instances now that we know the right PICOT Question format. PICOT inquiry examples include generalization, etiology, treatment, diagnostic, meaning, prognosis, and intervention. PICOT questions on hypertension, pregnancy, mental health/psychiatry, surgery, and cardiac disorders are also included.

Template for Developing PICOT Question/Purpose Statement

Describe each PICO aspect that pertains to the issue at hand. Before contemplating treatments, determine the desired goal; interventions may change as evidence is gathered. Determine the type of inquiry and write a purpose statement.

Step 1: Define elements or clinical question using PICO:

P = Targeted patients or population:

To handle the following issue or condition:

Area of experimentation (e.g., unit/clinic):

I = (assessment or therapeutic) intervention:

C stands for comparison.

Outcomes: O = Outcomes: O = Outcomes: O =

T = Time horizon (optional):

Step 2: Purpose statement:

Step 3: Determine the topic of your inquiry (circle one):

Therapy           Diagnosis        Etiology          Prognosis         Meaning

Step 4: Circle one or more research types that best meet your question:

Experimental studies   Observational studies  Qualitative studies     

Systematic review or meta-analysis    Case reports    Other

Step 5: List the key terms and synonyms for your purpose statement. A typical number of concepts per question is two to three.
Concept 1:	Concept 2:	Concept 3:
Step 6: List inclusion and exclusion criteria:
Step 7: Keywords or concepts for organizing literature:

In summary

Follow the steps above to create an excellent PICOT question when writing a PICO essay. Regardless, the process usually starts with deciding on a nursing specialty. Although intended for capstone projects, our list of the most recent nursing topics and ideas can assist you in deciding on a focus area.

You must identify an issue that is prevalent in the area, where you seek to develop solutions or implement change, after you have identified the area of focus and your patient population.

Make sure to use evidence-based studies from the last five years when developing the background of your problem. It’s also critical to create a gap, which serves as the foundation for forming a PICOT statement to test a new invention or make a change to solve a problem. Because your nursing literature review carries so much weight, you must be extremely careful when writing it.

In most cases, you’ll be asked to choose scholarly nursing articles from meta-analyses, systematic reviews, literature reviews, RCTs, longitudinal studies, and other scholarly sources to fill out a literature evaluation table that analyzes each one.