Skip to Main Content

PICO from PubMed

Search MEDLINE/PubMed via PICO with Spelling Checker

Search MEDLINE/PubMed via PICO with Spelling Checker

This search allows you to run a PubMed search using the PICO to formulate the search strategy

The Tabs above will show you how to search and how to obtain the articles found.

The PICO model will help you to construct your "foreground" clinical questions.

  • P stands for patient/population/problem or condition
  • I is the relevant intervention, exposure ot test that you want to use in relation to the patient/population or problem
  • C is the comparative (alternative) intervention, exposure or test, if there is one
  • O represents the outcome, or what you are most concerned about happening
    • Positive Outcomes: Prevention of illness or improvement in health
    • Negative Outcomes: Side effects/Adverse effects

Note: It is not always necessary to include all  four facets (components) in your PICO search statement, especially if you can find suitable MeSH terms to use in your search. Sometimes your search will yield too few results if your search strategy is too specific.

However, you should minimally include P and I to begin with when searching under Clinical Queries in PubMed.

 

PICO Searching PowerPoint