PICO Practice Questions
Case 1
The mother of a 5-year-old boy with a
history of asthma has brought him to the
emergency room with an acute
exacerbation of his condition. She wants
to know if this episode could be treated
with a single injection of dexamethasone
rather than a 5-day course of oral
prednisolone, since she has had problems
in the past getting him to take his
medicine.
Let’s build the PICO
P: ??
Children with acute asthma exacerbation
I: ??
Single-dose injectable dexamethasone
C: ??
Oral prednisolone x 5 days
O: ??
Resolution of asthma symptoms
Clinical Question
In a child with an acute asthma attack, does
a single-dose injection of dexamethasone
work as well as 5-day oral prednisolone in
resolving asthmatic symptoms?
Case 2
A 25-year-old man with newly-diagnosed
schizophrenia comes to you, his primary
care physician, after gaining 18 pounds in
the first 6 months since starting
olanzopine. Concerned because his
mother has diabetes, he asks you to help
him lose weight safely.
Case 2, continued
You make your usual recommendations that
he increase physical activity and decrease
total daily caloric intake, but you know the
chances of success are not high. You
recall hearing about a study that said
metformin may help in this situation, and
decide to review the evidence.
Let’s build the PICO
P: ??
Adult males with schizophrenia and weight gain on
olanzapine therapy
I: ??
Metformin
C: ??
Lifestyle changes alone
O: ??
Weight loss
Clinical Question
In adult male schizophrenics with weight
gain on olanzapine therapy, does the
addition of metformin to standard lifestyle
changes alone result in increased weight
loss?
Your Turn
• Work with a partner
• Pick one of your previous phase cases
• Write a PICO using the case features
• Write a clinical question from the PICO
• Submit online by 9:00 AM tomorrow to:
http://med.mercer.edu/libraries/picomacon.htm (Macon)
http://med.mercer.edu/libraries/picosavannah.htm (Savannah)
• Ask for help if you need it!
Your PICOs will be reviewed by MUSM
librarians and will be used to complete
searching exercises during next week’s
class.