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QUESTION
PICOT
For this assessment, select an issue of interest an apply the PICO(T) process to define the question and research it.
Your initial goal is to define the population, intervention, comparison, and outcome. In some cases, a time frame is relevant and you should include that as well, when writing a question you can research related to your issue of interest. After you define your question, research it, and organize your initial findings, select the two sources of evidence that seem the most relevant to your question and analyze them in more depth. Specifically, interpret each source's specific findings and best practices related to your issues, as well explain how the evidence would help you plan and make decisions related to your question.
If you need some structure to organize your initial thoughts and research, the PICOT Question and Research Template document (accessible from the "Create PICO(T) Questions" page in the Capella library's Evidence Based Practice guide) might be helpful.
In your submission, make sure you address the following grading criteria:
•Define a practice issue to be explored via a PICO(T) approach.
•Identify sources of evidence that could be potentially effective in answering a PICO(T) question.
•Explain the findings from articles or other sources of evidence.
•Explain the relevance of the findings from chosen sources of evidence to making decision related to a PICO(T) question.
•Communicate using writing that is clear, logical, and professional with correct grammar and spelling using the current APA style, 3-5 pages and 4 scholarly sources.Create a 3-5-page submission in which you develop a PICO(T) question for a specific care issue and evaluate the evidence you locate, which could help to answer the question.
PICO(T) is an acronym that helps researchers and practitioners define aspects of a potential study or investigation.
It stands for:
- P – Patient/population/problem.
- I – Intervention.
- C – Comparison (of potential interventions, typically).
- O - Outcome(s).
- T - Time frame (if time frame is relevant).
The end goal of applying PICO(T) is to develop a question that can help guide the search for evidence (Boswell Cannon, 2015). From this perspective, a PICO(T) question can be a valuable starting point for nurses who are starting to apply an evidence-based model or EBPs. By taking the time to precisely define the areas in which the nurse will be looking for evidence, searches become more efficient and effective. Essentially, by precisely defining the types of evidence within specific areas, the nurse will be more likely to discover relevant and useful evidence during their search.
You are encouraged to complete the Vila Health PCI(T) Process activity before you develop the plan proposal. This activity offers an opportunity to practice working through creating a PICO(T) question within the context of an issue at a Vila Health facility. These skills will be necessary to complete Assessment 3 successfully. This is for your own practice and self-assessment and demonstrates your engagement in the course.
Demonstration of Proficiency
By successfully completing this assessment, you will demonstrate your proficiency in the course competencies through the following assessment scoring guide criteria:
- Competency 1: Interpret findings from scholarly quantitative, qualitative, and outcomes research articles and studies. ◦Explain the findings from articles or other sources of evidence.
- Competency 2: Analyze the relevance and potential effectiveness of evidence when making a decision. ◦Identify sources of evidence that could be potentially effective in answering a PICO(T) question.
◦Explain the relevance of the findings from chosen sources of evidence to making decision related to a PICO(T) question.
- Competency 3: Apply an evidence-based practice model to address a practice issue. ◦Define a practice issue to be explored via a PICO(T) approach.
- Competency 5: Apply professional, scholarly communication strategies to lead practice changes based on evidence. ◦Communicate using writing that is clear, logical, and professional with correct grammar and spelling using current APA style.
Professional Context
As a baccalaureate-prepared nurse, you will be responsible for locating and identifying credible and scholarly resources to incorporate the best available evidence for the purposes of enhancing clinical reasoning and judgement skills. When reliable and relevant evidence-based findings are utilized, patients, health care systems, and nursing practice outcomes are positively impacted.
PICO(T) is a framework that can help you structure your definition of the issue, potential approach that you are going to use, and your predictions related to the issue. Word choice is important in the PICO(T) process because different word choices for similar concepts will lead you toward different existing evidence and research studies that would help inform the development of your initial question.
Scenario
For this assessment, please use an issue of interest from your current or past nursing practice.
If you do not have an issue of interest from your personal nursing practice, then review the optional Case Studies presented in the resources and select one of those as the basis for your assessment.
Instructions
For this assessment, select an issue of interest an apply the PICO(T) process to define the question and research it.
Your initial goal is to define the population, intervention, comparison, and outcome. In some cases, a time frame is relevant and you should include that as well, when writing a question you can research related to your issue of interest. After you define your question, research it, and organize your initial findings, select the two sources of evidence that seem the most relevant to your question and analyze them in more depth. Specifically, interpret each source's specific findings and best practices related to your issues, as well explain how the evidence would help you plan and make decisions related to your question.
If you need some structure to organize your initial thoughts and research, the PICOT Question and Research Template document (accessible from the "Create PICO(T) Questions" page in the Capella library's Evidence Based Practice guide) might be helpful.
In your submission, make sure you address the following grading criteria:
- Define a practice issue to be explored via a PICO(T) approach.
- Identify sources of evidence that could be potentially effective in answering a PICO(T) question.
- Explain the findings from articles or other sources of evidence.
- Explain the relevance of the findings from chosen sources of evidence to making decision related to a PICO(T) question.
- Communicate using writing that is clear, logical, and professional with correct grammar and spelling using the current APA style.
Additional Requirements
Your assessment should meet the following requirements:
- Length of submission: Create a 3–5-page submission focused on defining a research question and interpreting evidence relevant to answering it.
- Number of references: Cite a minimum of four sources of scholarly or professional evidence that support your findings and considerations. Resources should be no more than 5 years old.
- APA formatting: Format references and citations according to the current APA style.
| Subject | Nursing | Pages | 9 | Style | APA |
|---|
Answer
PICOT Questions and Evidence-Based Approach
Although getting quality clinical evidence through research is a daunting task, it is an essential aspect of evidence-based practice. The PICOT tactic streamlines the process for healthcare practitioners, as well as, researchers in different fields for reliable evidence (Hastings & Fisher, 2014). The PICO assists these individuals to formulate an effective clinical research question before carrying out the actual research by establishing the four components of appropriate clinical question. The question addresses the key challenge for the patient, treatment or intervention or any available treatment alternative and desired outcome (Hastings & Fisher, 2014). These components form a credible PICO question. On the same note, there is need to formulate a PICO strategy for diabetic individuals who grapple with the negative effects of the disease. Essentially, the PICO approach will be beneficial in finding credible research articles for the study, explain different findings and describe how these articles are relevant in decision making.
Practice Issue to Be Explored By PICOT
The management of diabetes type II is the practice issue that the PICOT seeks to explore. The evidence-based challenge is that diabetes self-management education program helps provide newly diagnosed individuals with a tool to control diabetes but it hardly results in the behavior and metabolic regulation of blood sugar. As a result,, there is need for a PICO study to establish the effectiveness of a detailed and complex approach to patient education in adherence to blood sugar regulation as opposed to the conventional patient education. Lepard, Joseph, Agne and Cherrington (2015) reported that the traditional DSME encompassed diet, exercise and health promotion. Others entailed medications, demonstration of blood sugar check, and education about the illness. In this study, the PICO question is, “In patients diagnosed with diabetes Mellitus II, does a detailed and a complex approach to patient care attain increased adherence to blood sugar regulation as compared to traditional patient education?”
Sources of Evidence to Answer PICOT Question
In the clinical setting, there are myriad of resources that can provide credible information. The central aim of these sources is to provide the most effective strategies for better patient care through guidelines and protocols. PubMed is one of the sources for evidence for answering PICOT question. PubMed is a source of biomedical peer reviewed articles from the American National Library of Medicine under the umbrella of National Institute of health. It is an appropriate source of evidence for answering the PICOT question for this study because it contains tens of million citations daily updates. ProQuest is another credible source of evidence for answering the PICOT question. ProQuest is a home for government, academic, and corporate peer reviewed journals for detailed studies in evidence-based practice. Just like ProQuest and PubMed, CINAHL offers a broad database for a researcher. It is considered the richest source of health and nursing journals in the world with more than 1300 articles. Essentially, peer reviewed articles or journals in CINAHL do not have embargo but offers critical information regarding conference proceeding and swift lessons about common disorders. All these sources are essential in answering the PICO for this study.
Findings from Articles
One of the articles obtained from PubMed pays attention to new strategies of offering individualized care in the modern world (Powell, Corathers, Raymond & Streisand, 2015). The findings of this article reveal that although there has been a significant progress in managing diabetes, several challenges are still experienced in attaining optimal glycemic control. To change, the article stresses the need for effectiveness in teamwork and coordination in incorporating services, understanding roles, and appropriate use of multidisciplinary resources. The investigators posited that this is vital to patients and their families. The investigators further indicated that there is a possibility of designing a learning network of clinical websites to enhance clinical outcomes and care delivery for patients suffering from diabetes. By offering critical information about the supremacy of a multidisciplinary approach to care, the article offers important answers to the PICO for the present study. In particular, it demonstrates efficiency in learning networks and makes a major contribution to the present PICO study.
In another study, Burke, Sherr and Lipman (2014) indicated that a decline in AIC levels by a single point can sufficiently minimize the risk of microvascular difficulties by 40%. The article admits that managing diabetes is a daunting task since it entails bringing on board focused and strong team members in sharing the decision with patients. Through this research, Burke, Sherr and Lipman (2014) succeed in demonstrating the supremacy of the contemporary DSME (S) program for those suffering from diabetes compared to conventional practices.
The Global Partnership for Effective Diabetes Management came up with recommendations on how to deal with type II diabetes for healthcare practitioners. It is a guide aimed at realizing glycemic goals. One of such recommendations is an interdisciplinary team approach. McGill, Blonde, Chan, Khunti, Lavalle and Bailey (2017) posited that an inter-disciplinary approach to care has the greatest positive effect for glycemic regulation of type II diabetes. Essentially, the works of McGill et al., (2017) and Burke et al., (2014) provide critical examples of success stories in the inter-disciplinary technique in different hospitals. Despite the significant hindrances in the technique such as financial constraint, the multi-disciplinary method remains one of the most effective approaches to managing patients suffering from type II diabetes.
The Relevance of Findings from the Selected Articles
The article by Powell et al., (2015) is a peer reviewed journal obtained from PubMed. It is published within the last five years indicating that it contains recent information and issues in nursing practice. It is relevant to the present study in that its contents address the management of type II diabetes using an inter-disciplinary approach. Further, the article depicts the need for a learning network for healthcare professionals to gain current information about patient management. As such, it is relevant and credible to the present study. Concerning its contribution to PICO, the article demonstrates success in maintaining the interdisciplinary team approach as one of the major factors that contribute to better patient outcomes for contemporary diabetes management.
Burke et al., (2014) fulfils the CRAAP test for credibility, authority, accuracy, purpose and relevance. Essentially, the article is from the diabetes, metabolic syndrome and obesity journals, and thus perfectly relates to the topic of the present study. The work recognizes the contributions made by past researchers in this field and supports every argument formulated using past literature. Essentially, it is relevant to the present study because it demonstrates the benefit of a diabetes self-management program, as well as, inter-disciplinary team technique in lowering the ACI levels of patients. Through this, it contributes significantly to the PICOT question. Similarly, in their study, McGill et al. (2017) show the benefit of an interdisciplinary approach and argue that it is the most effective approach of realizing glycemic control. Moreover, the article mentions different challenges that the strategy faces so that the researchers can be ready for the intended obstacles in implementing the strategy in the patient care.
In conclusion, diabetes is one of the healthcare issues that people continue to grapple with. Nonetheless, a PICO strategy can give evidence-based solutions to the challenge. Identifying the relevant articles to the present paper has revealed that an interdisciplinary approach to care is one of the most critical components of patient care in the modern healthcare practice. The approach not only reduces costs in patient care but also enhances patient outcomes satisfaction.
References
Burke, S. D., Sherr, D., & Lipman, R. D. (2014). Partnering with diabetes educators to improve patient outcomes. Diabetes, metabolic syndrome, and obesity: targets and therapy, 7, 45.
Hastings, C., & Fisher, C. A. (2014). Searching for proof: Creating and using an actionable PICO question. Nursing Management, 45(8), 9-12.
Lepard, M. G., Joseph, A. L., Agne, A. A., & Cherrington, A. L. (2015). Diabetes self-management interventions for adults with type 2 diabetes living in rural areas: a systematic literature review. Current diabetes reports, 15(6), 37.
McGill, M., Blonde, L., Chan, J. C., Khunti, K., Lavalle, F. J., & Bailey, C. J. (2017). The interdisciplinary team in type 2 diabetes management: Challenges and best practice solutions from real-world scenarios. Journal of clinical & translational endocrinology, 7, 21-27.
Powell, P., D Corathers, S., Raymond, J., & Streisand, R. (2015). New approaches to providing individualized diabetes care in the 21st century. Current diabetes reviews, 11(4), 222-230.