Steps in Forming the PICO Question Repost

Slide 1 of 5

P: Formulate the Clinical Question

Write a PI(C)O Question & Significance

1. In two paragraphs, identify a clinical topic of interest and conclude with a clinical question*. Use the literature to describe why this topic is important for advanced practice nurses and/or their patients and why the informed reader (assume a healthcare professional audience) should care about the question. Use recent references, as well as statistics from primary sources (e.g. CDC, AHRQ, American Heart Association, American Cancer Society) to establish the clinical importance of your topic. Do not use secondary sources in this section.

*Use the guidelines in Rivera & Fitzpatrick: Steps in Forming the PICO Question (pp. 58 – 60)

E: Evidence Review

Search the Literature

Search for and retrieve a minimum of eight (8) sources to answer the clinical question. These can be reviews of evidence (i.e. secondary evidence) or primary research studies that address the concepts in your PICO question. These can be either quantitative or qualitative and, ideally should have been published within the past 5-10 years, depending on the topic.

Write a short paragraph describing the data bases searched and key words used. Communicate this information in such a way so that someone else could replicate your literature search. Submit this paragraph with your table of evidence.

A: Appraise the Evidence

Construct a Table of Evidence.     Add column of strengths and weakness

2. Use Rivera & Fitzpatrick Table 3.2| Example Table of Evidence to construct your own Table of Evidence. Use worksheets 1-4 from Davies and Logan, as guidelines to appraise the major strengths and weaknesses of the evidence gathered and add a column to your Table of Evidence that summarizes strengths and weaknesses for each piece of evidence. It is not necessary to submit the worksheets.

Grading Criteria for Table of Evidence

100% 92% 89% 86%
Table is complete and thorough, and includes study strengths and weaknesses. Table is complete but does not include 8 relevant sources.  Table is incomplete on one dimension and/or complete but superficial on a few dimensions. Table is incomplete on more than one dimension and/or superficial on several dimensions, rendering the table of evidence incomplete.

Draw a Conclusion

Use your complete Table of Evidence to draw a conclusion about the answer to your PICO question and determine what to do next, according to Figure 4.6 in Rivera & Fitzpatrick. The conclusion may be that there is sufficient evidence to answer the question and change practice, that there is a need to gather more evidence, or that it is necessary to conduct research. Present this information in two succinct pages. Submit the revision to your PICO Question and Significance, along with your literature search paragraph and conclusion pages for a total paper length of 4-5 pages double spaced, 11-12 point font, APA format (7th ed).

Grading Criteria

Excellent Very Good Good Poor – Fair
40 points 36 points 32 points 31 points
PICO Question & Significance Question is well-worded according to the guidelines. There is a strong case for why the question is clinically important from current, primary sources. Question is well-worded according to the guidelines. There is a strong case for why the question is clinically important from current but secondary sources. Question is not worded in full accordance with the guidelines and/or there is only a satisfactory case for why the question is clinically important and/or includes outdated or secondary sources. Question is not worded per the guidelines and/or there is a weak case for why the question is clinically important and/or includes outdated or secondary sources.
50 points 45 points 40 points 35 points
Appraisal & Conclusion There is a logical conclusion drawn from the literature reviewed to address the question. The review contains summary and appraisal of evidence. There is a logical conclusion drawn from the literature reviewed to address the question, but there is more summary than appraisal of evidence. There is a conclusion drawn from literature reviewed to address the question, but there is a major misunderstanding. There is a conclusion to answer the question that is not fully consistent with the literature reviewed and/or there is one or more misunderstandings.
10 points 8 points 6 points 4 points
Conventions for Scholarly Writing in Nursing There is successful execution of major conventions for scholarly writing, including APA format, spelling, grammar, and usage. There is successful execution of most major conventions for scholarly writing, including spelling, grammar, and usage and/or APA format is incorrect in one major area or in a few minor areas. There is more than one error in conventions for scholarly writing, but the errors do not detract from meaning and/or APA format is incorrect in more than one major area or several minor areas. The errors in conventions for scholarly writing and APA format are distracting and detract from meaning and clarity.