Help with PICO question

[Blincoern]

I need help with my picot question.

Intervention or therapy- To determine which treatment leads to the best outcomeIn adult patients post lumbar laminectomy (P)

how effective is PCA pain medication management (I)

compared to scheduled oral pain medication ©

in controlling post op pain (O) during the recovery phase.

It looks good but I do not know where to take it. Any ideas?

[pro-student]

You have it mostly down. I would leave out "post-op" and just say pain for the outcome because it wouldn't be possible to isolate pain not related to surgery (however this is a little nit picky). Also, if you need a PICOT question and not PICO, your time frame needs to be explicit (it should really be anyways). For instance;

In adult patient who have undergone a lumbar laminectomy, is the use of a patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) pump more effective than scheduled oral pain medication at controlling pain in the first 72 hours?