What makes a clinical question well built? First, the question should be directly relevant to the problems at hand. Next, the question should be phrased to facilitate searching for a precise answer. To achieve these aims, the question must be focused and well articulated for all 4 parts of its 'anatomy' (known as PICO):
1) the Patient, population or problem being addressed
What are the characteristics of the patient or population?
What is the condition or disease?
2) the Intervention being considered which could include:
exposure, diagnostic test, prognostic factor, therapy, patient perception or
What do you want to do with this patient? Treat, diagnose, observe?
3) the Comparison intervention or exposure, when relevant
relevant most often when looking at therapy questions
What is the alternative to the intervention? Placebo, different drug, surgery?
4) the clinical Outcomes of interest
What are relevant clinical outcomes of interest to you and your patient?
Morbidity, death, complications?
Asking focused, four-component questions takes practice. Doing it well requires that you have insight into what you do not know, coupled with curiosity and a willingness to learn. Also, knowing how questions arise, where they come from, and how to recognize and articulate them can help you refine your skills.