How To Write PICO Question

Are you a nursing student looking for comprehensive guide on how to write PICO question? Academic papers mark quite a significant time and especially when they are your final papers they mark the threshold of your current academic pursuit, but before we jump into graduation day, let’s first figure out how to grab some A grades. Truth be told, nursing is not rated as one of the easiest studies in today’s curriculum but it is one of the most lucrative ones all over the globe. This is why you don’t need to take chances on anything at all, you have to perfect on your skill to be at the top of your game.

Else, you can seek DNP project writing help from best nurse writers online to craft for you appropriate and robust PICO questions? and if you are reading this, I can probably guess you are at a standstill with such a question or are looking to find out more on it. Then let’s not waste any more time and dive right into it, by the end of this you will be a pro-level writer in your PICO question.

PICO is a mnemonic that simply stands for Patient, Problem or Population, Intervention, Comparison or Control and Outcome. It is basically divided into these four parts and it is through this four-part division that we shall tackle the question. Without a question framework, evidence-based papers are quite hard to tackle ad truth be told, they have to be done at the end of the day which is why evidence-based practitioners use PICO to create the framework from which to work from. Basically, this is the backbone to your paper since it creates all the major basis that is needed for you to formulate an evidence-based paper.

For you to formulate a good evidence-based paper, you need to work with a thesis or with a hypothesis. Now, this right here is the source of your thesis question that you are looking forward to proving all through your paper. The thesis is basically the statement that guides you all across the paper and the statement that you are either looking to prove or discredit. An evidence based paper without this will seemingly be equal to driving with no destination. This can simply be called the map and compass through your whole paper as it tells you how to maneuver and how far you need to go. Let’s first break down PICO into its four interdependent sections so as to ascertain what we need to come down with for a stable thesis. Do not forget that the main intention of this whole process is to formulating well-built clinical questions that can be of benefit to not only the patients but also the clinicians as well. The questions here have to be both well-phrased in a way to ease the search for answers as well as relevant to the patient s problems. When all these boxes are checked, then you can know that you are on the right track

How to write PICO question

Population

In layman terms, population simply depicts people in a certain geographical region under the same conditions. However, this can be generalized or specialized to a certain group. Population can also be broken down to bring a portion of the total number under study in retrospect to the matter in question. However, in nursing I want you to think of age, gender, socio-economic status, occupation, medical records ethnicity and even more importantly what their problem is. These factors are usually all tied together in some way.

Over years of study, it has been seen that people with similar conditions tend to have something in common and this makes them be graded in the same population group sample. Basically what is covered under population will trickle all the way down from the generalizing to the individual patient. I tend to think of this stage of the question as the ‘who’ stage as you try to understand your patient as it comes a long way into treatment.

Intervention

Intervention simply means where you come in through for the patient, this is where you interject between them and the disease. In this basically, where you get to ask yourself, what do you want to do with this patient? It may be a variety of various causes of action such as therapeutical measure, lifestyle change, medication, diagnostic test or even surgical intervention.

Comparison

The PICO process is quite dependent on each individual entry and is placed to be sort of a cycle, at this stage; you will information form the population and intervention for the comparison. Basically, this is where you compare the intervention to another treatment, diagnostic test, placebo or even drug. This proves highly effective as it allows you the pleasure of being precise. You are able to eliminate possibilities and denies you the pleasure of being misled by misjudgment. However, on some occasions, you will realize that there is nothing to compare to and this should not be a problem whenever there is no comparison.

Outcome

After getting to study the population/ patient then intervening and later comparing it what are you expecting to see? What are your expected findings? This is what the outcome is all about, I tend to think of it as the stage that gives results. The outcome process constitutes of rigorous study of statistical finding and this makes it highly effective and accurate. By the rigorous testing process of ALL statistical data provided you should be able to determine what risks are involved in this? And are there side effects and will you get the desired results you are looking forward to?

There are however two points of view in dissecting the outcome, you can take the patient-oriented point of view or you can take the disease-oriented point of view. They may all point out different results but are both accurate. Sometimes a combination of both results is brought out to give a conclusive report.

Time frame

Most people tend to undercut on the timeframe but in the more detailed structures of PICO(T), It is usually included. This is however not as essential as the rest of the four components. The time frame is basically aimed at data collection and at giving the time of outcome. In some instances, the time used can be very crucial to tell the extent of the disease and the progression as well. Some diseases tend to ‘graduate’ with time and have alleviated symptoms.

However, during this whole processes, there may be other question involved as well that have direct input to it as well. There is a background question and foreground questions kind of setup. The background question setting is aimed at getting to understand more of the disease and patient so as to know what you are dealing with and what to look for as well while the foreground questions are aimed at helping you in making clinical decisions. During the background question setup you can ask questions on the disease and also on things such as the disease process, how did it start? How did you feel? What symptoms were exhibited? And what did you do? How often did the symptoms recur we cannot afford to ignore the fact that some patients try home treatment which may or may not have a direct implication on the disease.

The foreground questions can then be broken down into four more parts as well.

Therapy

Therapy, many people would perceive it as just a medical process that helps you get over something. It could possibly be physical, mental or emotional. However, in this case, these are questions of treatment that are placed in order to achieve some specific outcome. It may cover a wide range from surgical intervention, drugs, counseling, lifestyle change, diet change and many more in the same line. However, all these questions vary depending on the population and many more variables.

Diagnosis

Diagnosis is basically the identification of a disorder in a patient who is exhibiting specific symptoms. The diagnosis is one of the first factors to be put in mind before anything else since it creates the basis of your research and it gives specifics which narrow down the list for you substantially. Symptoms of disease A may be closely related to disease B, but there are certain highlights that clearly tell you what you are dealing with. Diagnosis closes down the long list of possibilities to only a few specifics.

Prognosis

Getting to understand the progression of a disease is of high importance to any clinical officer. Getting to inquire on the possibility of the disease occurring or how far it has come could prove to be much more valuable than you could imagine. It draws the line between medication and treatment plans to be taken. This is what we call prognosis. It is characterized by asking specific questions to your patient in an attempt to point out certain specifics and gathering as much information as possible. Remember, all information related to the disease is valuable.

Etiology/harm

Etiology is basically questions of the negative impact that could have resulted from an external exposure or any other intervention of any sort. They help you identify your starting point as it can pinpoint what works for your patient that does not work for the rest. It can also help you out to know if you are supposed to pick up from a point previously left or start over the process by remedying previous interventions.

Prevention

Prevention, just as time, is included in extensive study and this helps establish how you can prevent this from happening again or better how to curb its spreading. It is often pointed out that when placed on the PICO framework strategy, you have to explore all possibilities of the patients’ health condition, a preventive measure that can be taken, a preventive measure and the outcome expected from this. This can comprise of mortality rate, bed rest and productivity.

How To Write PICO Question Like Professional Nurses

Question Type	Population patient Problem	Intervention	Comparison	Outcome Measures
Therapy	Patient’s disease or condition.	Therapeutic measure. Medication, surgical intervention, or life style change.	Standard care, placebo or another intervention.	Mortality rate, pain, disability number of days off work.
Prevention	General health condition and Patient’s risk factors.	A preventive measure, medication or lifestyle change.	Another preventative measure OR maybe not applicable.	Mortality rate, disease incidence number of days off work.
Diagnosis	Condition or Specific disease.	Procedure or a diagnostic test.	Current “reference standard” test for that disease or condition.	Measures of the test utility, specificity sensitivity, odds ratio.
Prognosis	Duration and severity of clinical problem.	estimated usual time or expected time frame	Usually not applicable.	Mortality rates, Survival rates, rates of disease progression.
Etiology/harm	Patient’s risk factors, general health condition, or current health disorders	The intervention or exposure of interest. Includes an indication of the strength of the risk factor and the duration of the exposure.	Usually not applicable.	Mortality rates, Survival rates, rates of disease progression.

With this background that covers all the basics on PICO papers right from breaking it down into its specific parts, doing your background and foreground evaluation and not forgetting to match them to the PICO strategy, then you are ready to formulate your question. Easy, right!!! Studying has never been this easy and given that you have access to tons of information, both extracted and raw access then you can never go wrong

For you to do a holistic and well crafted evidence-based practice project (EBP) for your DNP you will need to have a clear outline that will guide you all through. In this case, you will need to take care of even the nitty-gritty of your research which will require a thesis question which provides the framework of your whole paper. The PICO point of view is always the safest to go with and is highly recommended all around the world. However, it may need intensive research on it as well. An experts eye on the paper is always an added advantage, remember you can always have a qualified writer to ‘guide your pen’ through the PICO question and evidence practice based paper. As I always say, you have to get the best out of everything, and I believe this should not be any different.

Watch also

How To Write Evidence Based Practice Papers in Nursing

Are you a nursing student looking for information on how to write evidence based practice papers? the reason why it is important to base our nursing care on evidence based research is to enhance nursing care delivery services, improve patient outcome and also assist other agencies enhance health care delivery through published interventions.

Since back in the day, the medical field has been one of the most crucial fields in the society. Quality assurance is of very high value as this can draw the thin line between life and death. However this does not all start in the hospital as a head nurse or doctor but rather it starts right from nursing school. Evidence based practice papers are simply written to prove a certain hypothesis that is at hand. Are you trying to reinvent the wheel? No! But rather just trying to modify it.

These papers are important as they help keep up with trends, save cost, evaluate projected outcome and to do away with methods that are quite outdated. An evidence based practice contains a couple of sections and are basically written with the same formatting as essays, but with a bit of a twist that I will take you through. At the end of this trust me you’ll be a pro at it.

Guidelines of Writing Evidence Based Practice Paper

Title

Right down from the basics you will need a title for your evidence based practice. This is majorly to guide you on what you are to write and it creates the basis for your hypothesis. Your title should be quite brief and pinpoint clearly what your evaluation will be on. Your tile can take a couple of forms as well. It can take the form of a question, a simple statement or an opposing fact. This way you will have set the direction right from the start and you will give the reader something to anticipate at the end of it. Simply think of it as a pacesetter.

Establish your thesis

A thesis is basically the controlling statement that you are standing with. Have in mind that a thesis is different from a hypothesis in that: a hypothesis is an idea that you can either prove or put claims against it. However a thesis is basically what you stand for and it gives the agenda that you will be pushing all through. Any evidence based practice without a thesis is a considered an incomplete paper as it leaves a lot to guesswork and imagination.

Read our article on how to write nursing capstone project papers to understand what makes a strong thesis statement.

Good formatting

The format of your nursing essay paper is basically the eye catcher and it snatches the attention of your reader. It is always good to maintain a certain level of professionalism even as you write your paper. The best formatting to go for at this juncture is the APA formatting. You will find out that when you have mastered this formatting then all you need to take care of is the content and the rest will flow. Basically, the APA formatting is the kind of formatting used in social sciences and it gives a continuous flow of ideas which explains its dominance. It is divided into four main sections that are;

Title- This hints what they appear is all about and gives the reader the direction to take and what facts to use during their evaluation.
Abstract- This is the basis of your thesis and your try explaining it in not more than 250 words and not less than 150 words. Let your reader know that you really know what you are talking about
Main body- This is the ‘flesh’ of your paper as it contains all the facts, figures and arguments placed. This is the platform that you have to put all your ideas and arguments all together to boost your thesis.
References- Many who have had their papers rejected will tell you that they lacked this part of the paper. This is where you let your reader know from where you sourced this information. But first hold that thought, I will be expounding it in a few.

Research

The quality of your work will be determined by the amount of research you carry out. In this field, as you might well know half a dosage is not the same as a full dose. A 1*2 prescription is not similar to 2*1. Despite the fact that they add up mathematically they don’t add up medically. You have to get current references and make sure that in the event that you decide to quote something that you indicate from where it is lifted from.

After all, you do want to produce fresh content. This is simply a process that you will follow; the title gives birth to your thesis, your thesis brings about research, research produces evidence and evidence will ultimately give the evidence based paper you are looking for. The one thing that you need to realize is that you are not limited to the number of contexts that you can research from. You can simply cover a wide scope for more credibility. Also, make sure that you get your facts right. As you write your evidence based practice paper in nursing, have in mind that the quality of your work is directly proportional to the quantity of your research.

References

Getting back to this as earlier promised; references take the guesswork out of your paper. They are the surest indication of research and they get even better when you can link them up together. You can get an inter-relation between your references and this strengthens your paper even the more. Despite the fact that you are just proving your hypothesis, you can make an original piece from other peoples work. The way to do this is getting creative and where you borrow their ideas make sure that you give them the credit they deserve. That way you will have put your best foot forward as far as evidence based practice papers are concerned.

Another very important thing to put in mind is that you should always describe your methods. On this, you should be very keen as your credibility is at stake here. You should ascertain that all measurements, figures, interviews, observations, and surveys are taken with precision and are transferred correctly. Do this and trust me you will have anchored yourself properly as far as your paper is concerned. Get the right material, formatting and ensure precision in everything and you’ll be good to go.

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How To Write PICO question