Nursing 286: Transition to Practice

To formulate questions in Evidence Based Practice, use the PICOT format.

PICOT stands for:

• Population/ Patient Problem: Who is your patient? (Disease or Health status, age, race, sex)
• Intervention: What do you plan to do for the patient? (Specific tests, therapies, medications)
• Comparison: What is the alternative to your plan? (ie. No treatment, different type of treatment, etc.)
• Outcome: What outcome do you seek? (Less symptoms, no symptoms, full health, etc.)
• Time:  What is the time frame? (This element is not always included.)

PICOT is an exercise that can help you move from a topic to a clinical question that will form the basis for your research. See the example below:

Topic: Private Hospital Rooms

Clinical research question: Do private hospital rooms reduce the occurrence of hospital acquired infections?