PICO Practice Questions

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PICO Practice Questions
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Case 1

• The mother of a 5-year-old boy with a history of
  asthma has brought him to the emergency room with
  an acute exacerbation of his condition. She wants
  to know if this episode could be treated with a
  single injection of dexamethasone rather than a
  5-day course of oral prednisolone, since she has
  had problems in the past getting him to take his
  medicine.

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Lets build the PICO

• P ??
• Children with acute asthma exacerbation
• I ??
• Single-dose injectable dexamethasone
• C ??
• Oral prednisolone x 5 days
• O ??
• Resolution of asthma symptoms

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Clinical Question

• In a child with an acute asthma attack, does a
  single-dose injection of dexamethasone work as
  well as 5-day oral prednisolone in resolving
  asthmatic symptoms?

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Case 2

• A 25-year-old man with newly-diagnosed
  schizophrenia comes to you, his primary care
  physician, after gaining 18 pounds in the first 6
  months since starting olanzopine. Concerned
  because his mother has diabetes, he asks you to
  help him lose weight safely.

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Case 2, continued

• You make your usual recommendations that he
  increase physical activity and decrease total
  daily caloric intake, but you know the chances of
  success are not high. You recall hearing about a
  study that said metformin may help in this
  situation, and decide to review the evidence.

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Lets build the PICO

• P ??
• Adult males with schizophrenia and weight gain on
  olanzapine therapy
• I ??
• Metformin
• C ??
• Lifestyle changes alone
• O ??
• Weight loss

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Clinical Question

• In adult male schizophrenics with weight gain on
  olanzapine therapy, does the addition of
  metformin to standard lifestyle changes alone
  result in increased weight loss?

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Your Turn

• Work with a partner
• Pick one of your previous phase cases
• Write a PICO using the case features
• Write a clinical question from the PICO
• Submit online by 900 AM tomorrow to
  http//med.mercer.edu/libraries/pico-macon.htm
  (Macon)
• http//med.mercer.edu/libraries/pico-savannah.htm
  (Savannah)
• Ask for help if you need it!

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• Your PICOs will be reviewed by MUSM librarians
  and will be used to complete searching exercises
  during next weeks class.