Intro to Library Tools and PICO

Question 1

background questions vs foreground questions

Answer 1

background: general in nature and provides basic info on a single concept (ex/ what is osteoporosis)

foreground: connects multiple concepts to inform clinical decisions or actions
- apply to a specific patient or population.
- done more frequently at higher levels of understanding, training or experience.

Question 2

the first step of AEBM is ____; when you formulate an answerable clinical question.

Answer 2

ASK

Question 3

what does a focused question identify

Answer 3

1. key concepts to search
2. question type (therapy, ethology, diagnosis etc)
3. best type of research or study to answer your question

Question 4

a well built clinical question must:

Answer 4

1. identify factors that are relevant to your patient

2. be phrased in a way that makes it possible to obtain. (PICO)

Question 5

outline what PICO is

Answer 5

1. patient (population or problem)– what are the most important characteristics of the patient (ex/ patient with coronary heart disease)
2. intervention (exposure or prognostic factor)– what is the treatment being considered? What exposure to certain condition puts the P at risk?
3. Comparison/control (people without CHD)
4. Outcome (death or response to CHD or longetiveity of life)
5. (sometimes)– study design.

Question 6

a GP is working with an adult female patient (22 yeard old) to encourage her to stop smoking. The GP is wondering whether e-cigarettes should recommended to a patient for smoking cessation, and how they compare to other smoking cessation aids, such as nicotine patches or bupropion.

Outline the PICO statement

Answer 6

in young adult females (P), how does e-cigs (I) affect smoking cessation duration (O) in comparison to patches ?

or
should e-cigarettes (I) be recommended over other smoking aids (C) to adult female patients (P) for smoking cessation (O)

Question 7

goal of step 2 of AEBM

Answer 7

step 2 is acquire: the goal is to track down the best evidence to answer your question (think about the hierarchy of evidence)

Question 8

which top pieces of evidence/ studies are best for answering therapy and harm questions?

Answer 8

1. randomized trial
2. observational study (ex/ ecological study, case-control, cohort etc)
3. unsystematic observational study

Question 9

best practices for searching strategies

Answer 9

1. don’t include all four PICO elements in your search; start with two/three depending on the question
2. do include alternate terms or synonyms for each concept you plan to search. (especially if you want it to be comprehensive)

Question 10

example of search engine for medical researhc

Answer 10

pubmed clinical queries.