Research Guides: Evidence-Based Healthcare Resources: Finding the Best Evidence

PICO Questions

PICO is an acronym to help researchers create focused, clinical questions. Each part of the PICO is a key concept in a clinical question

P - Patient/Problem/Population: How would you describe the patient or problem? This could include gender, age, disease, etc.

I - Intervention: What change or difference are you applying? Interventions could include medications, surgeries,

C - Comparison: What are you comparing your intervention to? This could be an alternative intervention or even a placebo. The comparison might not be necessary in all PICO questions.

O - Outcome: What are you trying to accomplish or measure?

Using parts of the PICO question as search keywords can help build a quality search query to find the best evidence-based information.

Databases

Cochrane Library This link opens in a new window Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (CDSR) plus: *Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) *Cochrane Clinical Answers (CCAs)
EMBASE This link opens in a new window New as of October 21, 2020.EMBASE Features:*Journal coverage from 1947 to the present*Over 32 million records, including MEDLINE titles*Over 8,500 journals from over 95 countries, including MEDLINE titles*Over 2,900 indexed journals unique to Embase*Over 1.5 million records added yearly, with an average of over 6,000 each day*Over 2.3 million conference abstracts indexed from more than 7,000 conferences dating from 2009*Full-text indexing of drug, disease and medical device data*Local literature modules available as add-on
PubMed Clinical Queries This link opens in a new window Search articles in clinical study categories, systematic reviews, and medical genetics from Medline/PubMed databases.
TRIP Database This link opens in a new window A clinical search tool to rapidly identify the highest quality clinical evidence for clinical practice.

PICO from National Library of Medicine

More Library Databases

CINAHL Complete This link opens in a new window
CINAHL (Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature) covers journals, books and other materials in nursing and the allied health/health profession fields.
Some full-text included.
Access other via “UT Links” and submit free Interlibrary Loan as needed.
Updated interface coming in 2025, preview here: https://ezproxy.uthsc.edu/login?url=https://research.ebsco.com/c/x47oyz/search/advanced/filters?db=ccm
On roadmap for Jan. 2025 Export up to 25,000 and search history.
ClinicalKey This link opens in a new window
ClinicalKey includes the MDConsult database but also adds hundreds of additional eBooks, eJournals, guidelines, videos, images, First Consult, Procedure Consult, and more into one platform.
EMBASE This link opens in a new window
PubMed/Medline This link opens in a new window
PubMed, a service of the National Library of Medicine, includes over 19 million citations for biomedical articles back to the 1940's.
Scopus This link opens in a new window
Scopus is a multidisciplinary abstract and citation database of peer-reviewed journal articles, books, and conference proceedings. In addition to publication information, Scopus provides author, publication, and journal impact metrics as well as free author profiles.
UpToDate This link opens in a new window
An evidence-based resource for clinicians and patients with the most current information on more than 20 specialties.
NOTE: NetID login is required to access, even when on UTHSC campus.
For mobile: After downloading respective app : App Store (iOS) and Google Play , use the UpToDate username and password you created on desktop or laptop.
You must renew your UpToDate username at least every 90 days on desktop/laptop at: https://libguides.uthsc.edu/uptodate
You will get an email reminder as the date approaches.