NR 439 PICOT Worksheet – Week 3

Name:
Date:
Your Instructor’s Name:
Purpose: To identify a problem or concern that nursing can change and develop a PICOT question to
guide the change project.
Directions: Use the form below to complete the Week 3 Assignment PICOT Evidence Worksheet. This
includes filling in the table with information about your research question and your PICOT elements and
the second part is filling in the Evidence Worksheet.
Step 1: Select the key PICO terms for searching the evidence. Clearly define your PICOT question. List
each element P (problem, population, or problem), I (intervention), C (Comparison with other
treatment/current practice), and O (Desired outcome), T (Time Frame). Is the potential solution
something for which you (as nurse or student) can find a solution through evidence research? Look in
your book for guidelines to developing your PICOT question and also read the required articles.
Step 2: Identify the problem. What have you noticed in your work or school environment that isn’t
achieving the desired patient or learning outcomes? What needs to change in nursing, what can you
change with the support of evidence in the literature? Describe the problem or practice issue that you
want to research. What is your practice area; clinical, education, or administration? (This is NOT where
you will list your PICOT question)
Step 3: How was the practice issues identified? How did you come to know this was a problem in your
clinical practice? Review the listed concerns and check all that apply.
Step 4: What evidence must be gathered? What sources of reliable information will be helpful for your
particular question?
Step 5: What terms will you use in order to make sure that your search is wide enough to obtain
required information but narrow enough to keep it focused? How will you narrow your search if
needed?
Chamberlain College of Nursing NR 439 PICOT Worksheet
NR439 PICOT Worksheet 4/19/17 jw 2
PICOT Question
What is the PICOT question?
In adults over the age of 65 with Alzheimer’s Disease (P), how does
nonpharmacological therapy (I) compare with those with no form of therapy (C)
reduce behavioral and psychiatric symptoms of dementia (BPSD) (O) over the
course of 30 days.
Define each element of the question below:
P- (Patient, population, or problem): adults over the age of 65 with Alzheimer’s Disease
I- (Intervention): nonpharmacological therapy (exercise, musical therapy, art therapy)
C- (Comparison with other treatment/current practice): no form of therapy
O- (Desired outcome): reduce behavioral and psychiatric symptoms of dementia
(BPSD)
T- (Time Frame): 30 days
What is the practice issue/problem? What is the scope of the issue? What is the need for change?
Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) has a huge prevalence in our society today and the numbers affected are
growing exponentially. Many patient’s in the hospital suffer from some form of Dementia, many of
them Alzheimer’s. Agitation and anxiety are two of the many symptoms of AD and they are not
being dealt with as effectively as possible. In order to provide patient’s with the utmost care, the
healthcare system should be doing everything it can to alleviate this agitation and anxiety, as well as
educating the families of those affected on strategies they can employ to do the same at home.
What is the practice area?
__x_ Clinical
__x_ Education
___ Administration
___ Other
Chamberlain College of Nursing NR 439 PICOT Worksheet
NR439 PICOT Worksheet 4/19/17 jw 3
How was the practice issue identified?
(check all that apply)
__x_ Safety/risk management concerns
__x_ Unsatisfactory patient outcomes
___ Wide variations in practice
___ Significant financial concerns
___ Difference between hospital and community practice
___ Clinical practice issue is a concern
___ Procedure or process is a time waster
___ Clinical practice issue has no scientific base
___ Other:
What evidence must be gathered? (check all that apply)
I would search the following four areas to look for evidence regarding recent research on care of
agitated patients using the search terms below. I would check for recent guidelines regarding art,
music, and pet therapy. What are other facilities using in the community? Is there any information on
the patient/family satisfaction survey’s that show patient preferences. Are there any state/medical
regulatory standards regarding these therapies?
__x_ Literature search
__x_ Guidelines
___ Expert Opinion
__x_ Patient Preferences
___ Clinical Expertise
___ Financial Analysis
__x_ Standards (Regulatory, professional, community)
___ Other
Search terms/How to narrow the search?
Alzheimer’s Disease, Dementia, therapy, nonpharmacological, art therapy, music therapy, exercise,
psychiatric, agitation, anxiety, BPSD
Use of multiple databases, keeping a list of key words used, using quotation marks to keep words
together as a phrase, filtering for peer reviewed or scholarly journal articles, narrowing results by
filtering for the last five years.

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