LibGuides: Nursing and Health Sciences Research Methods: The PICO Model

What is PICO?

PICO is a useful acronym used to define the main components of evidence-based practice. PICO helps you define the parameters of your research clearly by outlining the categories that should be the focus of your research.

Using the PICO model, your research should identify the following: patient/population, intervention, comparison, and outcome.

P	Patient, Population, or Problem	Who is your patient population or the population you are studying? OR What is the problem you are addressing in your study?
I	Intervention	What is your proposed solution to this problem/population issue? How will your study intervene to address the issue?
C	Comparison	What is the alternative to the intervention you are proposing?
O	Outcome	What would you like to measure? What do you want to achieve?

Examples of PICO in Action

The following links include PICO tables for specific research scenarios. These provide a useful example of PICO being used for health sciences research. You may need to scroll down on the page of some links to find the PICO table.

Below is an example of a research question that defines the parameters of inquiry using the PICO method. Each component of PICO is highlighted in the question. Identifying PICO criteria and incorporating them into your research question can assist you both in organizing your research and in finding search terms to use in your research.