Skip to Main Content

Forming Focused Questions with PICO: About PICO

What do the letters in PICO stand for?

Patient or problem
Intervention
Comparison
Outcome

Additional letters (PICOTTS)

Timeframe
Type of study
Setting

PICO Question Templates

Example PICO questions
Use this worksheet from Sonoma State University to help you structure your PICO question. (Word doc)

When should you use PICO?

In academia when you are looking for evidence to support best practice
In practice when you have a question about patient care

Why should you use PICO?

Helps you form a focused question that will return relevant results
Helps you retrieve a manageable amount of results
Assists you in brainstorming keywords for your research
Saves time!

Related Guides

Health, Recreation, and Kinesiology
by Natalie Browning Last Updated Jul 7, 2023 47 views this year
Healthcare Information
by Natalie Browning Last Updated Jul 7, 2023 11 views this year
Nursing
by Natalie Browning Last Updated Jan 5, 2023 61 views this year

Get help with your PICO

Asking the Well-Built Clinical Question
This guide walks you through the steps of EBP from PICO development to appraisal. Developed by UNC and Duke.

Other guides and tools:

Asking Focused Questions
PICO guide from the Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine (CEBM)
PICOT Questions
PICOT guide from Kaufman Library at Georgia Gwinnett College
Capstone and PICO(T) Project Toolkit
PICOT guide from NYU Libraries

*This guide was recreated with permission from the UNC Health Sciences Library.