PICO process

Common card · No. 396100

The PICO process (or framework) is a mnemonic used in evidence-based practice (and specifically evidence-based medicine) to frame and answer a clinical or health care related question, though it is also argued that PICO "can be used universally for every scientific endeavour in any discipline with all study designs". The PICO framework is also used to develop literature search strategies, for instance in systematic reviews. The PICO acronym has come to stand for: P – Patient, problem, or population I – Intervention C – Comparison, control, or comparator O – Outcome(s) (e.g. pain, fatigue, nausea, infections, death) An application that covers clinical questions about interventions, as well as exposures, risk/ prognostic factors, and test accuracy, is: P – Patient, problem, or population I – Investigated condition (e.g. intervention, exposure, risk/ prognostic factor, or test result) C – Comparison condition (e.g. intervention, exposure, risk/ prognostic factor, or test result respectively...

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