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NUR 65000: Concepts for the Nurse Executive: Creating an Environment for Professional Practice: Asking the PICO or PICo Question

Creating an environment for professional practice

PICO Elements

Effectiveness Questions

     P = Population

     I = Intervention

     C = Comparison

     O = Outcome

Meaningfulness

     P = Population

     I = Phenomenon of Interest

     Co = Context

PICO Question Tutorial

Nursing PICO Questions


When creating the PICO question, it is important to focus on topics relevant to nursing practice. 

Below are examples of nursing related questions:

Intervention/Effect/Therapy PICO Question:

An example:

In adult patients with total hip replacements (Patient population) how effective is early ambulation (Intervention of interest) compared to bed rest (Comparison intervention) on decreasing post-op DVTs (Outcome)?

Note: The question may also appear as:

What is the effectiveness of early ambulation, compared to bed rest, on decreasing post-op DVTs in adult patients with total hip replacements.

 

Meaning PICO Question:

How do pregnant women (P) newly diagnosed with diabetes (I) experience reporting their blood sugar levels (O) to their healthcare providers?