This page brings together some thoughts on formulating your PICOT question as a search query for finding scholarly articles in core Nursing databases. The top two videos on the right explain strategies for searching for your PICOT question in CINAHL Complete and the Joanna Briggs Institute Evidence-Based Practice Database. Also included are some more general videos about searching databases and recognizing scholarly articles that may be useful for review.
These databases are featured in the videos on this page. Links to additional databases appropriate for evidence-based practice may be found on the Nursing Resources library guide.
Using the PICOT Method: P (Population) I (Intervention) C (Comparison) O (Outcome), T (Time) to describe your question in writing.
An example of a question and how to describe it might be:
I am looking for articles representing evidence about what can be done to prevent falls in the elderly. In particular, I would like to know what evidence is available about the prevention of falls in elderly. I am particularly interested in the use of fall risk assessment to prevent falls in the elderly.
What is the population? Older adults, in the hospital or long-term care facilities
What is the intervention? Falls risk assessment
What is the Comparison? In this case, there is no comparison intervention or standard of care.
What is Outcome? Prevention of falls
What is the time it takes to meet the outcome of the intervention? In this case, time is not measured.
Possible Keywords for Database Searching
(elderly or aged or older adults)
AND
(falls risk assessment or fall risk assessment)
AND
(nursing or nursing assessment)
Other Tips
Look for limiters relevant to a part of your PICO question. Some databases have limiters for age and gender, for example.
Your intervention is the most important part of your question as a subject for searching.
Make sure you know the kind of article you need. Use limiters like "peer reviewed" or "research article" or for a specific type, like "systematic review."
These videos give more information on basic search strategies, scholarly articles, and core nursing databases.
Explore how databases are put together and why database searching is different than searching Google.
A rule of thumb for database searching: Choose two or three good keywords from your topic and connect them with "and." "or," or "not." Find out why and learn additional search strategies!
Do you know how to recognize a scholarly article when you see one?
Learn about the most comprehensive scholarly database for Nursing! We now have CINAHL Ultimate, which contains more content than Complete, but this video is still a good introduction to the basics.