Practice writing out PICOT questions for each of the following case scenarios.

EXAMPLE Question:

Patients waiting to have surgery for coronary artery bypass grafts (CABG) often experience anxiety and
depression. Your nurse manager wants to know if it would be a good idea to reach out to these patients with
pre-surgical home visits and follow-up calls from a specialist cardiac nurse.

Write a PICOT question to help you search the evidence for this research.

P: patients on CABG waiting lists

I: pre-surgical home visit and follow-up calls from a specialist cardiac nurse
C: no intervention (no home visit or calls)
O: decreased anxiety and depression
T: pre-surgery

Write the PICOT format into a formal sentence:

For patients on CABG waiting lists, does a program consisting of pre-surgical home visits and follow-up
calls from a specialist cardiac nurse lead to decreased patient anxiety and depression pre-surgery when
compared to patients that do not receive any program?

Question 1

You work with patients with advanced cancer who have chronic pain. You have been taught to suggest
pain diaries or journals for your patients as a form of pain management. You have been wondering for a
while now if these diaries or journals actually improve pain control or make pain worse by making
patients more aware of their pain.

P: advanced cancer patients with chronic pain

I: pain diary/journals
C: no intervention
O: pain awareness and level of pain
T: immediately after intervention

Write the PICOT format into a formal sentence

For advanced cancer patients with chronic pain, does completing a pain diary/journal affect pain
awareness and level of pain when compared to no intervention?

Question 2

You work in a hospital ICU. The mechanically ventilated patients have contracted nosocomial
pneumonia, which leads to costly complications. You want to know if raising the head of the bed lowers
the chance of the patient contracting pneumonia compared to letting the patient lie flat on their back.

P: medically ventilated patients in ICU

I: raising the head of bed
C: laying flat on the back
O: lower chances of contracting nosocomial pneumonia
T: during hospitalization

Write the PICOT format into a formal sentence

For medically ventilated patients in the ICU, does raising the head of the bed (semi-fowlers position)
lowers the chances of contracting nosocomial pneumonia compared to laying flat (supine) on their back?

Question 3

You work in a pediatric clinic and administer routine vaccinations. The younger children are often
fearful of needles, and some of the nursing staff use toys to distract the patients. You want to know if
this technique actually has an effect on the children's pain response.

P: young children
I: use of distraction while administering injections (use toys)
C: no intervention
O: improve fear of needles and pain response
T: during vaccinations

Write the PICOT format into a formal sentence

For younger children receiving routine vaccinations, does distraction through the use of toys improves
fear of needles and pain response compared to no intervention?

Question 4:

Many illnesses are caused or exacerbated by stress. The severity of chronic illnesses has been associated
with stress symptoms like sleep disturbances, headaches, hypertension, and irritability but little research
has been done regarding stress management in the elderly. You work with patients in a long-term, acute
care institution. Your nursing director has proposed that progressive muscle relaxation and
reminiscence might provide beneficial outcomes to your patients managing numerous co-morbid
medical conditions.

P: elderly patients in long-term acute-care setting

I: progressive muscle relaxation and reminiscence to reduce stress
C: no intervention
O: improve comorbid conditions exacerbated by stress
T: during hospitalization

Write the PICOT format into a formal sentence

For elderly patients with chronic comorbidities receiving care in acute long-term setting, does an
intervention consisting of progressive muscle relaxation and reminiscence lead to an improvement in the
severity of chronic illnesses exacerbated by stress, compared to no intervention?

Question 5:

Anxiety and depression are on the rise among college students. Universities are using pet therapy
programs that allow pet-therapy certified dogs to come to campus and interact with students during
stressful times such as finals week. You want to know if pet therapy is effective on reducing anxiety and
depression compared to counseling sessions at the school counseling center.

P: college students
I: pet therapy
C: counseling sessions at school counseling center
O: reduce anxiety and depression
T: finals week

Write the PICOT format into a formal sentence

For college students, does pet therapy administered on campus during finals week lead to reduction of
anxiety and depression when compared to traditional counseling sessions offered at the school
counseling center?