Formulate the clinical questions in the PICO framework
P stands for Patient/Problem, Disease, Condition. It's about who and what.
I stands for Intervention, Exposure. It's about how.
C stands for Comparison. It's similar to I if there is one. Itcan be a traditional treatment or placebo.
O stands for Outcome.
Type of Scenario (Question):Therapy/Prevention, Diagnosis, Etiology, Prognosis, others
Create search queries from PICO question
- Identify terms to fit the PICO question:keywords and their synonyms
- Keyword Search: keywords are natural words used by authors
- Connect synonyms with OR and put them in the brackets, then connect
brackets /keywords with AND
- Connect synonyms with OR and put them in the brackets, then connect
- Subject Heading Search: Controlled vocabulary. Mesh is used in Medline, and Emtree is used in Embase.
- Using a keyword to map the subject heading, then conduct subject heading search
- Doing other subject heading searches with different keywords from PICO question
- Connect subject heading search results with AND
Sample Scenario:
One of your regular patients asks to see you about a new herb called saw palmetto. He says that he has heard that it is good for prostate problems and as it is “natural”, has no side effects. You know that he is being treated for benign prostatic hypertrophy (BPH) with finasteride. What evidence can you find of the safety and efficacy of saw palmetto for BPH and what would you recommend to this patient?
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P I C O Framework |
P |
I |
C |
O |
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Definition |
Patient/Problem, Disease, Condition |
Intervention, Exposure |
Comparison |
Outcome (clinical) |
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Example Scenario |
benign prostatic hypertrophy (BPH) |
saw palmetto |
No comparison |
safety and efficacy of saw palmetto for BPH |
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Clinical Question |
For a patient with benign prostatic hypertrophy (BPH), is saw palmetto safe and effective? |
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Type of Question |
Therapy |
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Search terms: keywords and their synonyms |
benign prostatic hypertrophy, BPH, Benign prostatic |
saw palmetto, dwarf |
No |
No |
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Keyword Search |
(“benign prostatic hypertrophy” or BPH or “Benign prostatic hyperplasia”) and (“saw palmetto” or “dwarf palm plant” or “Serenoa repens” or SR or Sabal) |
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Subject Heading Search |
Mesh |
Prostatic Hyperplasia/ |
Serenoa/ |
No |
No |
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|
Emtree |
prostate hypertrophy/ |
exp sabal/ or exp sabal extract/ |
No |
No |
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