PICO formulation

1
PICO formulation
Dr. Saravana Kumar
2
Inclusion Criteria

• Operationalises the review question.
• Provides the details of what studies are to be
  included in the review.
• Should cover
• Population
• Intervention/ comparison or activity/issue
• Outcome
• Study design
• May also list what is to be excluded
• Specific populations
• Language
• Setting

3
Knowing what to ask

• Utilisation of PICO framework
• P Participants
• I Intervention
• C Comparator/control
• O - Outcomes

4
Inclusion Criteria-Example

• Participants/Population
• Pregnant women
• Intervention
• Hydrotherapy
• Outcome Measures
• Pain measure
• Quality of life
• Type of Studies
• randomised controlled trials

5
PECOT framework

• Alternative framework to PICO
• More generic framework
• This framework can be used to formulate clinical
  questions related to diagnosis, prevention,
  prognosis and education and interventions
• This framework also includes time component as
  time factors (short term and long term) are also
  clinically important

6
PECOT

• P for Participants (Patient or Problem)
• E  for Exposure (Intervention)
• C  for Comparison (Comparison intervention/Alterna
  tives, or Control)
• O for Outcome
• T for Time 

7
Review questions

• Examples of questions
• In older patients (gt65 years of age) with OA of
  the knee, does exercises with US compared to US
  improve function over a five year period?
• What functional effects does bi-weekly
  hydrotherapy program have on low back pain in
  pregnant women?

8
Where to from here?

• Print out the related PDF document (PICO
  formulation)
• Deriving from your clinical experience, and in
  association with your colleagues, try to
  formulate a relevant, concise review question
• Once completed send the review question along
  with your PICO or PECOT to CAHE