PICO Question tutorial: Understanding and framing clinical research questions made easy!

In this tutorial, you will quickly learn how to understand and frame a clinical question using the PICO question framework.

Understanding and framing a clinical question is the first step in the Evidence-Based Medicine (EBM) process. The ability to frame (develop) an answerable and relevant clinical question is a vital skill needed by both the consumers of the medical literature as well as the researchers who contribute to the medical literature. Converting the need for information (about diagnosis, therapy, harm, or prognosis) into an answerable clinical question is a vital skill for any healthcare provider seeking to provide optimal and up to date care for their patients.

The PICO framework is the best and most widely used framework used to aid healthcare providers and researchers (and anyone else interested in framing answerable clinical questions) develop answerable clinical questions. Having an appropriately framed clinical question is the single most important factor that will aid in an efficient search of the worlds literature (for example, when searching PubMed). Similarly, having an appropriately framed clinical question is the single greatest driver of all resources and efforts that go into developing a sound research protocol.

So whether you are a patient wanting to look up treatment options for a particular condition, a medical student just learning about evidence-based medicine, a clinician wanting to identify the optimal treatment strategy for your patient (or patient population) or a researcher wanting to conduct a clinical trial . . . developing a legitimate and relevant clinical question is a must have skill!

Luckily, this video will provide you with everything you need to be well on your way to developing great clinical questions!

By the end of this tutorial, you will be able to:

1. Describe the difference between background and foreground
questions

2. Identify the components of a clinical research question (PICO)

3. List the 5 types of foreground clinical questions


Dr. Eric McCoy is an associate professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine at UC Irvine School of Medicine. He is the course instructor for Epidemiology and Biostatistics for the School of Medicine and also travels overseas annually to provide course instruction in Evidence-Based Medicine. He is also the creator of a national and international medical simulation fellowship where he trains physicians in curriculum design, development, implementation, and research in the field of healthcare simulation. He frequently travels to national and international conferences to provide lectures and workshops in the areas of Evidence-Based Medicine, medical simulation, Emergency Medical Services, and research.