Task: Using clinical case scenarios, students will be expected to develop a question to address the area of clinical uncertainty and demonstrate their ability to use the PICO framework and document a...

Task: Using clinical case scenarios, students will be expected to develop a question to address the area of clinical uncertainty and demonstrate their ability to use the PICO framework and document a systematic literature search.


Instructions
This assignment will build on your learning during Week 2.  In the tutorial time and preparation activities in Week 2, you will learn what a PICO is, how to create one, why we use it, and how it helps us in searching for evidence. Face to face library workshops and online library study guide have been designed to assist you with assessment one. A discussion board has been set up for assessment one, so that you can share your ideas or find answer to your questions about this assessment. Research is a collaborative process, and so is learning in the clinical environment, so this activity will teach you skills in sharing your ideas with others so that you can all learn and achieve together.


In this assignment you will provide evidence of your learning on using PICOs and building a systematic literature search.


•    Choose one of the three clinical case scenarios on the next page (page 2).
•    Using the information from the case scenario, and your skills from Week 2, fill in the attached PICO worksheet to plan for your systematic database search.
•    Using the information from your PICO Worksheet record your Search Strategy in the attached worksheet (please do this in Microsoft Word and not by hand)

•    Enter your search terms into Medline (Ovid) using skills you have learnt in Week 2, the Online Library Study Guide, and the information in your Search Strategy Worksheet.

•    Take a screenshot of your search and paste it into the section in the worksheet below (see example on page 3).

•    Why Medline?? It is one of many databases, you just need to show us you are able to apply your learning into a database and in this instance we have asked you to use Medline – being able to carry out a prescribed task is part of learning :-)
•    Develops PICO and search terms (8 marks)
•    Determines elements of PICO relevant to the chosen scenario (max 2 marks).
•    Converts the question into a succinct and searchable PICO format relevant to the given scenario (max 1.5 marks)
•    Identifies the type of the clinical question correctly (0.5 mark).

•    Identifies appropriate main and alternative search terms (max 3 marks)
•    Identifies appropriate limits for the search, if appropriate (gender, age range, publication dates, and/ or language) (1 mark)
•    Applies a systematic search of the literature (7 marks)
•    Transfers PICO terms into the systematic search plan with terms grouped in a logical order (max 2 marks)
•    Appropriately combines the search using ‘OR’ and ‘AND’ Boolean operators (max 2 marks).
•    Transfers search to the Medline database accurately according to their planned search strategy and provides a clear screenshot/screengrab as evidence of the search in Medline (max 3 marks).