LibGuides: Evidence Based Medicine: PICO

PICO

Before you start your search, it is important to have a well-built question. One way to construct a well-built question is to use the PICO model. PICO stands for patient/population, intervention, comparison and outcomes.

Patient/Population	Intervention	Comparison	Outcomes
Who is your patient? Age, sex, race or patient Primary problem Health status	What do you plan on doing for the patient? Diagnostic test Medication Procedure	What alternative are you considering? Another test, medication or procedure Watchful waiting	What do wish to accomplish? Accurate diagnosis Relieve or improve symptoms Maintain function

Patient/Population

Intervention

Comparison

Outcomes

Who is your patient?

Age, sex, race or patient
Primary problem
Health status

What do you plan on doing for the patient?

Diagnostic test
Medication
Procedure

What alternative are you considering?

Another test, medication or procedure
Watchful waiting

What do wish to accomplish?

Accurate diagnosis
Relieve or improve symptoms
Maintain function

Example: Is adherence to the Mediterranean Diet associated with reduced risk of heart attack?

Patient/Population	Intervention	Comparison	Outcomes
Adult History of heart disease	Mediterranean diet	Typical diet No comparison	Reduction in heart attacks

When you go to search the databases, you may not use all these terms in your search. For instance, you may start out using only the terms Mediterranean Diet and heart attacks.

If you retrieve too many results, add more terms to your search, or add more specific terms.
If you retrieve too few results, use fewer or more broad terms.