PICO is a useful tool for asking focused clinical questions. PICO clarifies the question and identifies search concepts to help answer your question.
| PICO Format
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| Patient |
Who are the patients? What is the problem? |
| Intervention |
What main intervention are you considering? What do you want to do with this patient? |
| Comparison |
What is the main alternative being considered, if any? |
| Outcome | What are you trying to accomplish, measure, improve or affect? |
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Created by WK Kellogg Health Sciences Library, Dalhousie University
Alternatively, PICOTT can also be used. This expanded form of PICO adds the type of evidence (study design) that is most appropriate to answer the type of question being asked.
| PICOTT Format
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| Patient | Who are the patients? What is the problem? |
| Intervention | What main intervention are you considering? What do you want to do with this patient? |
| Comparison | What is the main alternative being considered, if any? |
| Outcome | What are you trying to accomplish, measure, improve or affect? |
| Type of question | Therapy/Diagnosis/Harm, etc. |
| Type of study | Systematic Reviews/RCT, etc. |
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These worksheets can be downloaded and printed to assist in using the PICO format.
Well-built clinical question worksheet (PDF)
Duke University Medical Center & Library
Patient-oriented clinical question worksheet (Word document)
Dartmouth Biomedical Libraries
