PICO+problems

Think about the topic behind the question, and ask yourself:
 * Can't find research articles to answer your PICO(T) question? **
 * Why not? **
 * 1) If you find articles, but none of the authors are nurses, your topic is probably not a nursing problem. Nurses encounter many health and medical issues in their work, but **nursing research focuses on nursing problems**.
 * 2) If no nurse researcher has done a research study about your topic, then there are no articles to find. **You can't find it if it doesn't exist!**
 * 3) If initial research finds many articles, but result lists disappear when you add date limiters, then it's likely there is no CURRENT research about your topic. Like many other things, **research is trendy**. Your topic might have been well researched several years ago, but it's not "hot" in the literature today.
 * 4) Is the outcome measurable?
 * Is it **possible** to measure it? How? Using what indicator **/** instrument **/** measurement?
 * Is it **reasonable** to measure it? Would it take years/decades to accumulate the data? Is the population accessible/available to researchers?
 * Is the outcome **common knowledge**? Topic examples: Does breast feeding improve immune system development? Does hand washing decrease the spread of infectious disease?
 * Would a researcher have **ethical** issues to consider in order to explore this topic? Topic example: Do infant sleep positions impact the incidence of SIDS? Directives relating to this topic come from professional judgements based on historical data about SIDS; it would be unethical and illegal for a researcher to risk infant death by adjusting sleep position to one that has been associated with a high incidence of SIDS.


 * What now? **
 * If your question isn't answerable, it can usually be adjusted.
 * Don't panic and abandon all the work you've done!
 * Talk with your instructor to brainstorm ideas about how you can use the research you've found to help you adjust your question to address the evidence that exists.