What is Evidence-Based Practice?
Evidence-Based Practice is defined as the integration of best research evidence with clinical expertise and patient values (Sackett et al. 1996).
Applying PICO to your Search:
Types of Studies:
Forming a PICO/PICOT question
Creating a research question is a simple idea, but can be a complicated task. A well-built question is neither too broad nor too narrow. One method is to create a PICO or PICOT question. You may not have all of the information available when you start, but you should at least have the P and I before you start searching for information. The worksheets linked below can be valuable when determining this information. The answers to these questions can help you formulate your keywords for your search strategy.
P - Patient population (What differentiates your population? age, sex, race, ethnicity, disease process, comorbidities)
I - Intervention (What action do you want to take with the population? What has this population been exposed to that you wish to examine?)
C - Comparison (What are you comparing your intervention against - The control group? The gold standard treatment?)
O - Outcome (What will be improved? What is the desired outcome?)
T - Time (Does timing matter? When should the patient follow up? Is it day or night? Is there a drug administration schedule?)
References
Hall, H. R., & Roussel, L. A. (2016). Evidence-based practice. Jones & Bartlett Publishers
Sackett, D. L., W. M. Rosenberg, J. A. Gray, R. B. Haynes, and W. S. Richardson. 1996. "Evidence Based Medicine: What it is and what it isn't." BMJ (Clinical Research Ed.) 312 (7023): 71-72.
