Here are some recommended places to start your search. For more detailed information, please visit the other pages in this guide.

The PICO Protocol is used in Evidence Based Practice to frame and answer a medical question. The acronym stands for:

P - Population
I - Intervention
C - Comparison
O - Outcome

You can use this protocol for framing your question, for example:

Population: Elderly
Intervention: Flu prevention
Comparison: None
Outcome: Reduce spread of flu

Question: What interventions can be taken to reduce the spread of flu among the elderly?

Search String: You can then take this question to create a search string to use in a database, for example: (elderly OR senior citizens) AND (flu prevention OR influenza prevention OR influenza vaccine OR flu vaccine)

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