- POEM
If you don't know what you want to know, how can you know what you want or what you got?
Spending a little time at the outset formulating your question will save a lot of time and frustration at
the end. The creation of the question is the first, crucial step in searching for an answer. The literature
search will flow from the issues raised in the question and will be easier to perform if the question is
explicit and concise. Sackett et al suggest that clinical questions arise from the "central tasks of
clinical work". They suggest that in the formulation of your clinical question, you first decide which
type of clinical work you are addressing and offer the following categories of central tasks:
- Clinical findings: how to gather and interpret findings from the history and physical
- Etiology
- Differential diagnosis
- Diagnostic testing
- Prognosis
- Therapy
- Prevention and screening
- Economic analysis
- Self-improvement: how to keep up to date or improve your skills
In creating your clinical question, answer the following:
- Which of the central tasks am I addressing?
- Why do I need the answer to this question?
- What are the characteristics of the patient or patients I am interested in?
- What is the specific disease or medical issue involved?
- Where am I most likely to find the answer to this question: textbooks, systematic reviews, original research reports, experts, consultants?
- What is the most appropriate search strategy?
