Skip to Main Content

Nursing

Resources for students and faculty

ASK: Developing a Clinical Question

​One of the basic skills required for practicing EBM is developing a well-built clinical question. These questions need to be relevant to patients’ problems and phrased in a way that facilitates your acquisition of relevant and precise answers from the medical literature.

 

Ask a clear question about the patient's issue and determine an ultimate goal, such as improving a procedure to help their specific condition.

4 Elements of the Clinical Question (PICO) - the PICO model is a tool used widely to develop answerable questions.

Table showing the PICO question format including Patient, Population, Problem, Intervention, Comparison, Control, Comparator, Outcome

Variants of PICO

Shows alternate formats to ask a question including PIO, PICOT, and PICOS

 

Examples

An example of using PICO, For individuals and families affected by cancer, how have peer support programs been used to reduce disparities and their ba  In elderly diabetic patients with stage III foot ulcers, does negative pressure wound therapy lead to improved wound healing when compared to standard

Example sources: UNC-Chapel Hill Health Sciences Library PICO Example

PICO(T) Question Template

EBP Resources for Asking the Question