Evidence Based Medicine

Formulating Questions

Evidence Based e-Platform Evidence Based Medicine

Steps to Formulating of answerable questions Process: The Patient : - Start with the patient: a clinical problem/ question arise out of the care of the patient.       The Question : - Construct a well-built question derived from the case. "EBM always begins and ends with the patient." As medical practitioners, we often encounter many uncertainties in our daily practice, and for this, it is important for us to recognize our inadequacies so we can improve our service to the patients. However, understandably, our busy schedule often hinders us form updating ourselves by cross-checking our knowledge with current research. Hence, this is one of the reasons for identifying questions. The second reason of identifying questions is that once we formulate the specific questions, we may obtain the answers with remarkable efficiency because a well-formed question will help to limit our search to the very relevant published studies that would provide a quick and useful answer to our question. However, this is a skill that one needs to attain by practice. Content: It would be helpful to use the synonym of P-I-C-O. The four components of a typical EBM clinical question are: P The patient and/or problem of interest I The main intervention (a treatment, a diagnostic test, a prognostic factor, etc) C Comparison intervention(s), if relevant O The clinical outcome(s) of interest By formulating the question clearly, we can better focus our scarce learning time on evidence that is directly relevant to our patients' clinical needs, our own knowledge needs, and streamline our search strategies.

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