Best Examples of PICOT Questions for PICO Papers in 2025

The post below includes 100 Examples of PICOT Questions for NPs and papers on different subject areas,, such as diabetes, mental health, falls, emergency nursing, pregnancy, hypertension, and nursing burnout.

Examples of PICOT Questions on diabetes

1. The PICOT question components include: (P) Adults with type 2 diabetes in the primary care setting, (I) Does diabetes self-management with education (DSME) program intervention help control patients’ A1c? (C) compared to the absence of self-management or DSME education (O), there will be a reduction in A1c (T) within three months.
2. PICOT Question: In patients with type 2 diabetes, how do inpatient diabetes management and education, compared to outpatient care and education, improve glycemic control over 6 months?
3. Among diabetic children patients (P), how does adopting various lifestyles (I), compared to non-adoption of new lifestyles (C), reduce the risk of diabetes-related complications (O) for one year (T)?
4. Among Adult patients with type 2 diabetes, does diabetes self-management education and diabetes awareness bring better results in maintaining a healthy lifestyle without diabetes complications and help to control A1c better?
5. In African-American patients suffering from diabetes type 2 (P), how effective is the use of insulin (I) as compared to dietary modification and lifestyle changes (C ) in lowering the blood sugar levels in the body (O)within one month (T) after the initial diagnosis?
6. In African Americans with type II diabetes, how does exercise compared to a sedentary lifestyle affect their quality of life?

Examples of PICOT Questions on falls

1. For community-dwelling adults over 65, is a multifactorial weekly, group fall prevention program more beneficial than weekly conventional PT for improving scores on the Berg Balance Scale?
2. Among adult patients in the acute care setting, would the implementation of patient-centered interventions be more effective than usual fall prevention interventions in reducing the incidence of falls one month after implementation?
3. Does family involvement through education (I) decrease the number of falls and fall-related complications (O) over six months (T) in 65+ and older adults with a one-year history of falling (P) compared to care without family participation (C)?
4. For patients 80 years of age or older who are at risk of falls—as determined by performance on the TUG, 30-second chair stand, or 4-stage balance tests—is the Otago exercise program more effective than a strengthening program alone in preventing falls over follow-up periods of at least six and up to 12 months?

Examples of PICOT Questions on emergency nursing

1. In emergency nursing, does changing patient triage and caregiver workflow, compared with the current model, reduce patient overcrowding and decrease patient length of stay?
2. In Emergency Departments, does the Application of over-crowding indices, compared to Raw ED volumes, lead to Prognostic accuracy for over-crowding related outcomes (increased error rates, ED length of stay, staff burnout), reliability, physician/patient acceptability, and external validity?
3. In Emergency Departments, do Operational Improvement Interventions to Reduce ED Overcrowding and/or Overcrowding-Related Sequelae, compared to Routine ED operations, lead to overcrowding-related outcomes (error rates, ED length of stay, staff burnout), physician/patient acceptability, and external validity?
4.  In the emergency department (ED), how does a nurse-initiated protocol (NIP) for chest pain (CP) patients compared to no protocol use influence the length of stay (LOS) in the ED over 8 weeks?
5.  In emergency nursing (P), how does violence prevention training (I) compared to no training ( C) affect nurses’ perspective of violence in the emergency room (O) within the first month of implementation (T)?

Examples of PICOT Questions on pregnancy

• Are mothers given cesarian sections in their first pregnancy more likely to experience uterine rupture during subsequent pregnancies when compared with first-time mothers giving vaginal birth?
• Is transvaginal ultrasound performed on expectant mothers more effective than laparoscopy in diagnosing ectopic pregnancies?
• In women experiencing their first pregnancy, do pregnancy-tracking mobile apps result in fewer unnecessary hospital visits when compared with self-tracking throughout the pregnancy?
• For a pregnant person seeking a surgical abortion at < 14 weeks of gestation, is pain control with any particular method (I) safer, more effective, and/or more satisfactory/acceptable compared with pain control with a different method or no pain control (C)?
• The post below includes 100 Examples of PICOT Questions for NPs and papers in different subject areas, such as diabetes, mental health, falls, emergency nursing, pregnancy, hypertension, and nursing burnout.
• For a pregnant person seeking a surgical abortion at ≥ 12 weeks of gestation, is cervical priming with medical methods (mifepristone, misoprostol, or both) a safe, effective, and satisfactory/acceptable alternative to mechanical methods (laminaria, foley bulb, dilapan)?
• How do pregnant women (P) newly diagnosed with diabetes (I) perceive reporting their blood sugar levels (O) to their healthcare providers during their pregnancy and six weeks postpartum (T)?
• How do pregnant women (P) newly diagnosed with diabetes (I) perceive reporting their blood sugar levels (O) to their healthcare providers during their pregnancy and six weeks postpartum (T)?

Examples of PICOT Questions on hypertension

1. In overweight adults with hypertension (P), does a change in diet and exercise (I) result in weight loss and reduced blood pressure (O) within three months (T)?
2. Does telemonitoring blood pressure (I) in patients with hypertension (P) improve blood pressure control (O) within one year of initiation of the medication (T)?
3. Are patient education programs effective (compared to no intervention) in increasing patient exercise in patients age 65 and older with high blood pressure?
4. Are 30- to 50-year-old women (P) who have high blood pressure (I) compared with those without high blood pressure (C)at increased risk for an acute myocardial infarction (O) during the first year after hysterectomy (T)?
5.  In adult patients diagnosed with hypertension (P), how does home blood pressure monitoring (I) compared to no blood pressure monitoring (C) affect blood pressure (O) twelve weeks after diagnosis (T)?

Examples of PICOT Questions on nurse burnout

1. Do nurses who practice stress management have lower levels of burnout compared to nurses who do not practice stress management?
2. For ED nurses, how does a nurse education program address coping skills, work-network-related stress, and satisfaction patient and patienttion scores and reduce nurse desensitization?
3. Among nursing practitioners (P), will encourage retired professionals to return to the workforce (I), compared to not doing this (C), provide additional nurse aids to minimize the current shortage of nurses (O) within a year (T)?
4. Among nurses having chronic burnout, what would be the effect or impact of increasing the nurse enrolment compared to exploring retention strategies to resolve the nursing shortage currently affecting the United States healthcare over the next eight years? 
5. Among nursing staff in the emergency department, intensive care unit, neonatal intensive care unit, and labor and delivery, how does the proactive implementation of nursing staff education on burnout and depressive symptoms, assessment of burnout and depressive symptoms, and referral, compared to not educating or screening staff, affect burnout, stress recognition, and nurse turnover rates within three months of education and implementation of the interactive screening program for suicide prevention

Examples of PICOT Questions on medication errors

1. Does implementing the Medication Reconciliation Timeout Process (MRTP) decrease medication errors in one month for nurses administering medication in a long-term acute care hospital in one month compared to the usual medication practice?
2. Considering patients in acute units with dynamic medication needs, what methods are imperative in reinforcing the five rights and communication practices contrasted with increasing computer knowledge, leading to decreased medication error events over the subsequent fiscal year?
3. Compared to conventional methods, does integrating health information technology in the medication management process reduce medication errors during hospital stays in critically ill patients?
4. In community-dwelling adults, how effective is hands-on CPR versus hands plus breathing CPR at preventing mortality?

PICOT questions for icu nurses

1. In mechanically ventilated ICU patients, does positioning the patient in semi-fowlers result in a lower incidence of nosocomial pneumonia than the supine position?
2. In the critically ill patient (P), how does promoting early mobility within 72 hours of admission (I), compared with prolonged bed rest, affect patient hospital length of stay (O) over three months (T)?

Examples of PICOT Questions on childhood obesity

1. For Obese children, does the use of community recreation activities compare to educational programs on lifestyle changes reduce the risk of diabetes mellitus?
2. Does parental obesity play a role in their children’s body mass index (BMI) in the ages between five and twelve years of age?
3. Will obese children in the community benefit from dietary and physical activity guidance, compared to having no nutritional or physical activity education, in a way that will reduce weight and health-related concerns over the next five years?
4. Among parents of children aged 3 to 12 with a BMI of 85% or greater, does understanding parental perception of their child’s weight increase a parent’s readiness to change toward a healthy lifestyle management?
5. Will a policy change directed at utilizing a tracking form for identifying overweight/obese children at a primary care center by its PCPs increase the identification of overweight/obese children?
6. Among parents with young children, early education about healthy eating and exercise, as opposed to education provided to parents before that child is born, could prevent child obesity within 5 years.

Examples of PICOT Questions on depression

1. Does aerobic exercise improve the mental health status of adults with clinical depression? The patient population identified would be adults (male and/or female). The intervention of interest uses aerobic activity/exercise as a therapeutic component. The comparison interventions include adults who don’t apply physical activity/exercise as a therapeutic intervention. The primary desired outcome is the treatment of clinical depression, and the time frame would ideally be long-term benefits.
2. For patients on CABG waiting lists, does an intervention program consisting of presurgical home visits and follow-up calls from a specialist cardiac nurse lead to decreased patient anxiety and depression [when compared with no intervention]?

Good PICOT questions for nurse practitioners

• PICO Question: For young athletes (aged 13-30 years) trying to return to sport after arthroscopic hip labral surgery, is short-term PT as beneficial as long-term PT in returning an athlete to sport at full strength?
•  In women over 70 years old with knee osteoarthritis (P), is aquatic therapy (I) more effective than land-based therapy (C) in decreasing pain with ambulation (O)?
• Is body support treadmill training (I) more effective than overground training (C) for improvement in gait motor outcomes (O) in a 48-year-old man with left hemiparesis due to stroke ()?
• In (P) adult patients with chronic low back pain who present to outpatient physical therapy services, does the (I) integration of strategies-based psychologically informed practices (O) better promote patient self-management (increase self-efficacy) compared with (C) traditional PT practice alone?
• In patients 60 years of age and older who have had a reverse total shoulder arthroplasty, are there differences in clinical and/or patient-reported outcomes between those having surgery for rotator cuff tear arthropathy compared to those having the procedure for primary osteoarthritis?
• Is the Otago Exercise Program (OEP) or Tai Chi more effective at achieving clinically significant reductions in patients’ risk for falling with knee osteoarthritis (OA), ages 65 and up, and at risk for falls, as measured by the Timed Up and Go (TUG) assessment, 12 months following the initiation of treatment?
• Do deep squats or shallow squats impose less tensile and shear stress on the tibiofemoral joint and ACL in a 25-year-old athlete with a history of ACL injury?
• In patients 60 years of age and older who have had a reverse total shoulder arthroplasty, are there differences in clinical and/or patient-reported outcomes between those having surgery for rotator cuff tear arthropathy compared to those having the procedure for primary osteoarthritis?
• In a child with cerebral palsy, is an anterior walker more effective than a posterior walker in improving upright posture (measured by decreased hip and trunk flexion), gait parameters (such as cadence, walking velocity, stride, and step length, single and double support/stance time) and energy efficiency (measured by oxygen consumption)?
• Does distraction through a cognitive task increase the affected step length in a 60-year-old patient with hemiplegia due to stroke compared to focusing exclusively on gait during a treadmill gait training intervention?
• What are the health benefits of a community-based exercise and health education program for underserved Latinas?

Get additional information about PICO:

• PICO Tutorial from the University of Washington
• PICOT Generator – a tool to help generate more picot questions
• Johns Hopkins EBP Question Development Tool

• PICOT Worksheet – This worksheet will help you build a PICOT question and identify keywords for your searchable question.

• Pubmed Clinical Queries

This tool uses predefined filters to help you quickly refine PubMed searches on clinical or disease-specific topics.