PICO: Form a Focused Clinical Question

Using the PICO Framework

The PICO acronym describes the key components of a clinical question. Not all parts of PICO are required, and additional letters can form frameworks that are more appropriate for other types of research questions. PICO can help narrow a topic and does not serve as a rule for the structure of all clinical questions. 

When should you use PICO?

• In academia when you are looking for evidence to support best practice
• In clinical practice when you have a question about patient care

Why should you use PICO?

• Helps you form a focused question that will return relevant results
• Helps you retrieve a manageable amount of results
• Assists you in brainstorming keywords for your research
• Saves time!

Additional letters (for PICOT, PICOS, PICOTS,

PICOTTS)

• Timeframe
• Type of study
• Setting

What is Evidence-Based Medicine?

Evidence based medicine (or evidence based practice) is the "conscientious, explicit, and judicious use of current best evidence in making decisions about the care of individual patients" (p. 71). The practice of evidence based medicine means integrating individual clinical expertise with the best available external clinical evidence from systematic research (Sackett, 1996, BMJ).

The Steps

1. Ask 
2. Align 
3. Acquire 
4. Appraise 
5. Apply 
6. Assess

This guide will cover steps 1 through 4.

Click "Next" at the bottom of each page to follow through each of the first four steps of building and answering a PICO question.