SEARCH USING PICO
Developing a Search Strategy using PICO
Once you have selected a database(s) you will need to come up with a search strategy to search for articles in the database. The following steps will help you create a search strategy.
- Select the most important keywords from the PICO question
- Add commands to the search string
- Find additional keywords
1. Identify Keywords from the PICO question
- Identify PICO concepts from your research question.
- Select 2 to 3 concepts from the PICO terms as your search terms.
- Eliminate unimportant words (e.g. for, in, of, on)
- Tips:
- Conduct separate searches for articles on the intervention and the comparison
- Don't use U.S. or America as keywords unless the results include a lot of articles on other countries. Doing so could exclude articles that don't specifically mention the terms U.S. or America.
| Example PICO | PICO Components | Search Terms |
|---|---|---|
| In adult patients with chronic pain does the use of mindfulness-based stress reduction compared to standard pharmacological treatments improve pain management and quality of life? |
Patient/Problem: adult patients, chronic pain Intervention: MBSR Comparison: pharmacological treatments Outcome: improve pain management |
adults, chronic pain, mindfulness-based stress reduction |
2. Add Search Commands to the Search String
Most databases recognize the following commands:
| Search Command | Result |
|---|---|
| Boolean Command AND | adult AND chronic pain AND MSBR brings back articles that mention all three concepts. |
| Boolean Command OR | (MSBR OR mindfulness-based stress reduction) brings back articles that mention either concept. |
| Boolean Command NOT | NOT cognitive behavioral therapy will exclude articles that mention the concept. |
| Phrase Searching | "chronic pain" returns articles containing the exact phrase in the order it is typed. |
| Truncation | improv* returns articles containing words with the root addict such as improve, improvement, improving |
Put it all together
The search string below will bring back articles that mention the following terms:
adult AND "chronic pain" AND ("mindfulness-based stress reduction" or MSBR)
3. Find Additional Keywords
It is unlikely that you will find all of the articles you need with your first search string. You will have to try different search combinations using different keywords.
There are a couple of ways to find additional search terms:
- Search for subject headings/MeSH headings in the database.
- You can find additional terms in the subject terms found in an article record.
Search Database for Subject Terms/MeSH terms for additional search terms
Tips: Search for one concept at a time in the CINAHL Headings.
Search for subject terms listed in the article record
When you find an article that is relevant to your research, click on the title of the article and look for the subject terms listed in the article record.
Add the relevant terms to your search string with the appropriate commands.
Add the relevant terms to your search string with the appropriate commands.