How do I ask for help regarding PICO formatting and falls prevention

welcome to an! we are the largest nursing community on the internet. we are happy to help with home work but we won't do it for you. we will lead you to the right path and help you find the answer for yourself.

it is helpful for us to know what semester you are and how far along in the process you are so i don't have to always repeat the basics.

pico is asking a question

pico is a mnemonic used to describe the four elements of a good clinical foreground question.p--patient

i--intervention

c--comparison

o--outcome

http://www.med.yale.edu/library/nursing/education/ebhc.html

[table]

[tr]

[td]element of the clinical question

[/td]

[td]patient

describe as accurately as possible the patient or group of patients of interest

[/td]

[td]intervention (or cause, prognosis)

what is the main intervention or therapy you wish to consider?

including an exposure to disease, a diagnostic test, a prognostic factor, a treatment, a patient perception, a risk factor, etc.

[/td]

[td]comparison (optional)

is there an alternative treatment to compare?

including no disease, placebo, a different prognotic factor, absence of risk factor, etc.

[/td]

[td]outcome

what is the clincial outcome, including a time horizon if relevant?

[/td]

[/tr]

[tr]

[td]example

[/td]

[td]in patients with acute bronchitis,

[/td]

[td]do antibiotics

[/td]

[td]none

[/td]

[td]reduce sputum production, cough or days off.?

[/td]

[/tr]

[tr]

[td]example

[/td]

[td]in children with cancer

[/td]

[td]what are the current treatments

[/td]

[td][/td]

[td]in the management of fever and infection?

[/td]

[/tr]

[tr]

[td]example

[/td]

[td]among family-members of patients undergoing diagnostic procedures

[/td]

[td]does standard care,

[/td]

[td]listening to tranquil music, or audiotaped comedy routines

[/td]

[td]make a difference in the reduction of reported anxiety.

[/td]

[/tr]

[/table]

asking a good question (pico)picoasking the right question is a difficult skill to learn, yet it is fundamental to the evidence-based decision-making process. this process almost always begins with a patient question or problem. a "well-built" question should include four parts, referred to as pico that identify the patient problem or population (p), intervention (i), comparison © and outcome(s) (o).

the first step in developing a well-built question is to identify the patient problem or population. describe either the patient's chief complaint or generalize the patient's condition to a larger population.

when identifying the p in pico it is helpful to ask:

• primary problem
  
  
• patients main concern or chief complaint
  
  
• disease or health status
  
  
• age, race, sex, previous ailments, current medications
  
  

So your question is about falls....

What population of patients are you going to write about? Elderly? Inpatient acute care? Long term care? At home?

What would be your intervention/plan...

As compared to......

Your outcome.

As evidenced by....

Come back with some statements and we will try to help you further. I have posted several VERY helpful links to assist yhou in this process with resource/research sources as well.

P I C O: Formulate an Answerable Question