Evidence-Based Medicine: Review and Practice: Test your PICO skills

Created by Health Science Librarians

Practice Your Skills

Practice writing out PICO components and then forming a focused question about the case study of at least one of the specialties below. Choose one or several that interest you.

Medicine

For an adult male, does a lower sodium diet or lower reduced salt intake reduce hypertension?

Open to check your PICO analysis of the scenario for Medicine.

Patient / Problem	Adult Male with Hypertension
Intervention	Low Salt Diet or Reduced Sodium Intake
Comparison	No change in diet or salt intake
Outcome	Lower Blood Pressure or Reduction in Hypertension
Type of Question	Therapy
Type of Study	Systematic Review of RCTs > individual RCTs > cohort studies

Anesthesiology & Surgery

What effect does preoperative carbohydrate treatment, compared with placebo or preoperative fasting, have on postoperative recovery in adult patients undergoing surgery?

Open to check your PICO analysis of the scenario for Anesthesiology and Surgery.

Patient / Problem	Adult patient undergoing surgery
Intervention	Preoperative carbohydrate
Comparison	Placebo OR preoperative fasting
Outcome	Postoperative recovery
Type of Question	Therapy
Type of Study	Systematic Review of RCTs > individual RCTs > cohort studies

OB-GYN

For a 33 year old pregnant female in her second trimester, what is the evidence available to support the choice between laparoscopic appendectomy or open appendectomy with the best clinical outcome?

Open to check your PICO analysis of the scenario for Medicine.

Patient / Problem	Female, Pregnant, with Acute Appendicitis
Intervention	Laparoscopic Appendectomy
Comparison	Open Appendectomy
Outcome	Successful removal of Appendix
Type of Question	Therapy
Type of Study	Systematic Review of RCTs > individual RCTs > cohort studies

Pediatrics

For a child/pediatric patient, is ibuprofen as effective as morphine during the post-operative/postfracture period?

Open to check your PICO analysis of the scenario for Pediatrics.

Patient / Problem	Child/Pediatric Patient, Postoperative/Postfracture Pain Management
Intervention	Ibuprofen OR Non-Narcotic Analgesic
Comparison	Morphine OR Opioid Analgesics
Outcome	Safe and Effective Pain Management
Type of Question	Therapy
Type of Study	Systematic Review of RCTs > individual RCTs > cohort studies