PICOT Statement and Literature Search

The first step of the EBP process is to develop a question from the nursing practice problem of interest.

Select a practice problem of interest to use as the focus of your research.

Start with the patient and identify the clinical problems or issues that arise from clinical care.

Following the PICOT format, write a PICOT statement in your selected practice problem area of interest, which is applicable to your proposed capstone project.

The PICOT statement will provide a framework for your capstone project (the project students must complete during their final course in the RN-BSN program of study).

Conduct a literature search to locate research articles focused on your selected practice problem of interest. This literature search should include both quantitative and qualitative peer-reviewed research articles to support your practice problem.

Select six peer-reviewed research articles which will be utilized through the next 5 weeks as reference sources. Be sure that some of the articles use qualitative research and that some use quantitative research. Create a reference list in which the six articles are listed. Beneath each reference include the article's abstract. The completed assignment should have a title page and a reference list with abstracts.

Suggestions for locating qualitative and quantitative research articles from credible sources:

1. Use a library database such as CINAHL Complete for your search.

2. Using the advanced search page check the box beside "Research Article" in the "Limit Your Results" section.

3. When setting up the search you can type your topic in the top box, then add quantitative or qualitative as a search term in one of the lower boxes. Research articles often are described as qualitative or quantitative.

To narrow/broaden your search, remove the words qualitative and quantitative and include words that narrow or broaden your main topic. For example: Diabetes and pediatric and dialysis. To determine what research design was used, review the abstract and the methods section of the article. The author will provide a description of data collection using qualitative or quantitative methods.

Prepare this assignment according to the guidelines found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center. An abstract is not required.