Health Care Problem through PICOT Format - Essay Example

"Health Care Problem through PICOT Format" is a well-written example of a paper on the health system.
Consider a health care problem that either yourself or a family member have encountered. Think about a problem where there could be more than one way to treat the problem or care for the problem. Maybe there is a medical way to treat a problem or an alternative/ complementary way that might be beneficial. Provide a (paragraph) to describe a background on the problem and some alternative solutions to the problem. Develop a PICO question about the problem to include population, intervention, comparison and outcome; include time as a variable as appropriate.

PICOT FORMAT = BELOW
P stands for the population of interest. (Define age range)  Male, age 30-45
I stand for the intervention of interest. (Amount, Frequency, Duration)  persistent leg pain
C stands for comparison. (Amount, Frequency, Duration) persistent; pain is experienced all the time.  Watch the patient physically.
O stands for outcomes. (Look at when they will be measured). Prevention of pain.
T is for Time.  Injured one week ago.
Every part of the PICO question should have a time element related to it for example when looking at the population, define an age range. Interventions and comparisons look at the amount, frequency, or duration of the treatment. For outcomes look when they will be measured. Time is an important element to be sure you are comparing studies that are similar to your questions.

Problem Paragraph:

A health care problem that a family member of mine encountered recently was a pulled hamstring in a knee.  The injury was the result of a tennis match.  The family member was told several different ways to help with the injury; these included ice, heat, over the counter pain killers, braces, and even the herb glucosamine.  Some suggested that he go to the doctor to obtain a painkiller and/or muscle relaxer to help with the pain.

PICO Question:

In male patients ate 30-45, in order to analyze persistent leg pain, which the patient states occur all the time, one must talk to the patient and measure the patient’s physical abilities.  After this observation, physical treatment and/or medications should be provided to assist the patient.

Think about the assignment you just completed for Pro-Nursing-Assignment 1. Now, conduct a search for evidence about your PICOT question. Follow directions on the ( SEE BELOW)"Working Through Evidence-Based Practice: Synthesize the Best Evidence: Conducting a Literature Search".

Search should include:
• I. Your PICO question in PICO format (with T as applicable)
• II. Name of most relevant guideline related to your search term from National Guideline Clearinghouse http://www.guideline.gov
• III. OVID - EBM Reviews: Cochrane Data Base of Systematic Reviews ( link * Google)
• IV. OVID- Search of CINAHL and Medline. ( Link * Google) Use each PICO term as a keyword, then combine search terms, then set limits. . The goal is to limit your search for relevant articles to a manageable number (< 20). 

Analysis:

The PiCO question was searched using the website.  The PICO question and term “pulled hamstring” did not retrieve any results.  However, the term “knee injury” did.  Several articles regarding different ways to help with chronic knee pain were pulled up.  The one that seemed the most important was titled “Knee and Leg, Acute and Chronic.”  Within this article, a few interesting facts were pointed out.  First, it was stated that knee pain is one of the most common on job complaints.  The researcher was not currently aware of this, and therefore the remedies for this issue become even more important because many people actually appear to suffer from similar knee ailments.  There is a list of suggestions to address when the patient comes in for the first visit.  Within the first visit, it will be important to talk to the patient for a given amount of time in order to discover how the issue happened.  The discussion should also help to determine the frequency and depth of the pain.  After that, some physical tests need to be made.  The patient should be made to carry weight, or push a leg up against the nurse’s hand while he or she pushes down, testing for strength and pain.   The results that are discovered by analyzing the injured knee should be compared against the healthy knee in order to get an accurate diagnosis of how the injured knee should be acting.  The patient will also need to do things like walk around the office for the nurse. 

It will also be important to take a very close look at the knee to see if there is any bruising or swelling.  An x-ray may be required to make sure it is a muscle injury and not a bone fracture—especially ruling out mild bone fractures.  The patient should be told to lay off of the injured knee for the most part, although some exercises to help with the pain can be given, as well as the assistance of a possible knee brace to stabilize the knee.

If the knee problems are not improved and the patient comes back a few times, the nurse may want to consider conducting surgery and it may be wise to begin preparing the patient for a surgical screening in order to assist with a reduction of pain in the knee.  Therefore, there is already an evidence-based practice clinical guideline developed, and it can be found by searching the provided website.

Further searching demonstrated that there has not been a general meta-analysis.  This may be because knee injuries are often minor and frequent, and often times rest is the best “medicine” in many cases.  So individuals do not come into the doctor with these types of injuries—they may simply buy a brace and pain medicine, and rest for a few days, getting better on their own.