Libraries and Learning Centres: Nursing: PICO & PRISMA Resources

PICO Question Resources

PICO is a technique that you can use to formulate and refine your research question. PICO stands for (P)Patient, population, or problem, (I) Intervention or exposure, (C) Comparison, and (O) Outcome. To use PICO, answer questions about each of these elements.

The recommended databases to use are the databases that have the controlled vocabulary: MEDLINE (MeSh 2024), CINAHL Ultimate (CINAHL headings), ProQuest Nursing & Allied Health (Thesaurus), Health Source: Nursing/Academic Edition (Subjects) or APA PsychoInfo ( Subjects). Any database outside of this list requires approval from the course instructor.

A guide to ontology, epistemology, and philosophical perspectives for interdisciplinary researchers
May 2, 2017 by Katie Moon and Deborah Blackman

Citations - Including APA 7th edition

Citation Styles
by Sonja Irving Last Updated Mar 20, 2025 193 views this year

Getting started with a PICO question

Research is a process! You may find as you begin searching, you may need to edit and revise your PICO question. Book an appointment with a library staff member for help with finding resources, using subject terms, etc. Our schedules fill up quickly, so book an appointment with us early and do not leave it to the last minute.

Here are some resources to help you develop a PICO question and get the process started.

Develop Your Topic
To develop a PICO question, you need to first think of a topic you would like to research. The Develop Your Topic module from the Health Sciences Research Hub on the Learning Portal has some great tips on getting started. This link also includes templates to help you build your PICO question.

7 Steps to the Perfect PICO Score: Evidence-Based Nursing Practice
Searching for high quality clinical research evidence can be a daunting task to many in the healthcare arena, yet it is an integral part of the evidence-based practice process. Depending on your role in the clinical environment – librarian, nurse or student nurse – you may possess some of the skills needed, but not all. For example: librarians are well-versed in conducting literature reviews but may be unfamiliar with using the PICO framework to facilitate their literature search. Staff nurses generally understand the key concepts of evidencebased practice but might lack basic literature searching skills. Student nurses learn about the importance of evidence-based practice in nursing school; however, until they become practicing nurses, they might not fully understand the correlation between evidence-based interventions and improved patient outcomes.

Search Strategy / PRISMA

Sample PRISMA chart with notes

Creating a PRISMA flow diagram: PRISMA 2020
The aim of the PRISMA Statement is to help authors improve the reporting of systematic reviews and meta-analyses. We have focused on randomized trials, but PRISMA can also be used as a basis for reporting systematic reviews of other types of research, particularly evaluations of interventions. PRISMA may also be useful for critical appraisal of published systematic reviews, although it is not a quality assessment instrument to gauge the quality of a systematic review.
Searching the Literature in Health Part 2: How to search: The basics (YouTube video)
Analyzing your health topic, using Boolean searches, truncation and wildcards, creating a search table.
PRISMA Flow Diagram - Interactive Tool
Systematic reviews should be described in a high degree of methodological detail. The PRISMA Statement calls for a high level of reporting detail in systematic reviews and meta-analyses. An integral part of the methodological description of a review is a flow diagram.

This tool allows you to produce a flow diagram for your own review that conforms to the PRISMA2020 Statement. You can provide the numbers in the data entry section of the 'Create flow diagram' tab.

PICO Question Resources

Citations - Including APA 7th edition

Getting started with a PICO question

Search Strategy / PRISMA

Videos