The PICO(T) framework is a powerful tool used in evidence-based practice to formulate clinical questions and guide research searches. By clearly defining the elements of your question, you can effectively search for relevant studies and gather high-quality evidence. Here's what each letter in PICO(T) stands for:
Using PICO(T) helps you to create a focused and structured research question, which in turn makes your search for evidence more efficient and productive.
Let’s apply the PICO(T) framework to a specific example: studying the effectiveness of balance training in reducing falls among the elderly.
The clinical question we are exploring is: "In elderly individuals at risk of falls, does balance training exercises compared to no specific fall prevention program reduce the incidence of falls?"
You can now take each part of this question and enter it into its own search box in a database like CINAHL.
In databases like CINAHL, you'll often find multiple search boxes available. This allows you to enter each PICO(T) element separately, which helps the database return more relevant results.
To ensure you capture as many relevant studies as possible, consider adding related terms to each of your original search terms. This is where the use of "OR" becomes crucial.
For example:
By placing OR between related terms, the database understands that it should bring back results that include any of these terms. Remember to use OR in capital letters so the database recognizes it as a command to search for any of the listed terms.
Below is a screenshot of how this search would look in CINAHL, using both the main terms and their related terms to maximize your search results.
You may want to explore these other specialized databases depending on your topic.
