Describe the difference between a nursing practice problem and a medical practice problem. Provide one example of each. Discuss why is it important to ensure your PICOT is based on a nursing practice problem.

Explain the differences between nursing practice problems and medical practice problems. Each type of problem should be illustrated. Explain why it is important that the PICOT you create is related to a problem in nursing practice.

The implementation of nursing intervention can resolve a nursing practice issue. A nursing practice problem is one that nurses can solve or improve through their actions, like patient education, monitoring and managing symptoms. A nursing problem might be the management of postoperative pain or the prevention of bed sores among patients who are bed-ridden.

A medical practice problem, on the other hand is one that cannot be resolved without medical intervention. The majority of medical practice problems relate to diseases and their diagnosis or treatment, for example the treatment of hypertension.

The focus should be on the nursing intervention and outcome. Nursing is responsible for direct patient care. Nurses’ actions may have an impact on the patient outcome. Nurses can improve their practice by focusing on problems in nursing. They will then implement interventions that are evidence-based and help to improve the patient’s outcome.

For example, let’s say a PICOT question is “In hospitalized elderly patients, does the use of a multidisciplinary team approach (including a nurse practitioner) compared to standard care reduce hospital length of stay?” If the nursing practice problem is the prevention of hospital-acquired infections, then this PICOT question may not be relevant to the nursing practice problem. If the problem in nursing is managing elderly patients who have multiple comorbidities then the PICOT questions is relevant.

Conclusion: Nursing practice is defined as problems that are resolvable through nursing intervention, while medical problems need medical interventions. In order to focus the PICOT on nursing intervention and outcome, questions should be based on real-life nursing problems.