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NURS 4953 - Professional Nursing Synthesis: Searching with PICO

PICO Resources

In Evidence-based Nursing, PICO (sometimes styled PICOT) formatted questions assist nurses in developing effective and efficient search parameters that produce high quality, specific, and evidence-based results.

PICO(T) stands for:

  • Patient Population or Problem
  • Intervention
  • Comparison
  • Outcome
  • Time-frame.

The following resources explain the PICO Process and guide in precise formulation of PICO questions.

PICO Videos

A PICO question is used to perform effective and efficient searches of nursing literature to make evidence-based clinical decisions. The following videos provide guidelines on developing a PICO question and using the PICO question to search the CINAHL and MEDLINE databases.