POM V & VI Practice Based Learning and Improvement Presentation Guide: Steps 2 & 3

• Your question can be patient specific (foreground) or general (background)?
• If patient specific- what is patient’s diagnosis?  Pertinent medical information? Demographic information?
• A background question looks at a patient population. If could be about type 2 diabetics, osteoporosis in elderly women, etc.
  • If you choose a background question, consider if there are any exceptions to the intervention, contraindications to the medication, etc. 
• Your answer to the question should be provided in two forms:
  • to a clinical faculty member, fellow medical team members
  • what you would tell the patient
    • should include less medical jargon

• Most often the original question asked is NOT the most effective way of finding the answer needed/wanted.
• If adequate background information is obtained, the ultimate question is usually formed
• Once ultimate question is formed, confirm this with requestor (if possible) to avoid conflict with response.
• Use PP-ICO to create your question!

P – patient/population

P - problem

I - intervention

C - comparison

O - outcome

An example of a clinical question for this scenario would be:

• Does garlic (I) lower total cholesterol (O) in 50 year old Caucasian males (P) compared to placebo or standard of care (C)?

Clinical Question:

Does garlic (I) lower total cholesterol (O) in 50-year old Caucasian males (P) compared to placebo or standard of care(C)?