DMSO 460 Admin & Res in Sonography: Think before you search: PICO

"US veterans"  "ultrasound screening"

P: "US veterans"

i: "ultrasound screening"

narrowed down to "systematic reviews"

P: "Female veterans"

I " echocardiography"

"female veterans"  echocardiography  RCT  or randomized clinical trial

When selecting keywords ,  think about the following:

1. PATIENT/PROBLEM -  What are the characteristics of the patient or population or problem that you are researching?
2. INTERVENTION - What is being done to or for this patient or population or problem?
3. COMPARISON -  What alternatives can be considered?
4. OUTCOME -   What are you trying to measure ?

•  what type of information are you looking for:?
  • therapy (treatment),
  • Diagnosis,
  • Etiology (identify causes for disease) ,
  • Prognosis (estimate patient's clinical course),
  • Prevention

You will find a variety of health and medical journal articles based on the type of research being conducted e.g. Random Controlled Trials (RCT) , cohort studies, systematic reviews, meta-analysis, etc.