Please help! PICO Question

Nursing Students General Students

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Hello! I am at the end of my rope! I have a huge assignment that I need to get a start on. I have to develop a PICO question, using articles that are less than 5 years old (10 of them!) in a nursing research priority area of my choice. I have no idea what to do, I have looked for hours, and can't seem to find enough information for topics because the research is either older than 5 years, or there isn't enough research. My interest areas are mental health nursing. Can anyone please help me?

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Hello! I am at the end of my rope! I have a huge assignment that I need to get a start on. I have to develop a PICO question, using articles that are less than 5 years old (10 of them!) in a nursing research priority area of my choice. I have no idea what to do, I have looked for hours, and can't seem to find enough information for topics because the research is either older than 5 years, or there isn't enough research. My interest areas are mental health nursing. Can anyone please help me?

I need to say that mental health nursing is not the prime area for nursing research. There is such a huge overlap with psychology and SW.

A hot topics are mental health coverage through the Affordable Care Act for example - which is not so specific to mental health nursing but more to mental health care itself.

Some while ago I did some research on bipolar disorder education for patients - there was some literature out there.

You should perhaps consider something more general nursing because there is much more nursing research going on. Or if you are a member of a professional organization check their webpage or magazine for some hot topics.

Sometimes it is better to take on a topic that is not your prime interest but offers better research...

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Thank you. That's actually a great point. To be honest, I'm actually not that bothered now what I do. Have you got any ideas for PICO questions for general nursing areas at all?

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Thank you. That's actually a great point. To be honest, I'm actually not that bothered now what I do. Have you got any ideas for PICO questions for general nursing areas at all?

Well - that is part of your homework to figure something out.

If you work in nursing think about current trends. If you have access to the online library of your nursing school search through some magazines like Science Quarterly or such.

Don't make it too complicated and narrow enough that your can focus on your topic.

Also, look carefully at the requirements for your homework to make sure that you cover all rubrics.

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Specializes in Medical and general practice now LTC.

Moved to the General Student discussion forum

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Specializes in ICU, LTACH, Internal Medicine.

Pick up one relatively narrow and "hot" question with clearly defined population (p) and plenty of possible interventions (i) and start from there.

Alternatively, go to CINAHL, search for dementia, depression, ADHD, etc within that 5 years limit till you find the "hottest" topic with plenty of choices.

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