It can be challenging to formulate a clinical question for your topic, but it’s important to work this through. 

• is answerable?
• is specific and focused?
• is it relevant to clinical practice?

Using a search planner helps you formulate your research question and better understand the type of information you are looking for. PICO is a popular research template. The table below illustrates other seach templates.

The Cochrane Library publishes PICOs for their reviews. Here is an example of a PICO search question. 

In adults with hypertension (P), does a low sodium diet (I) compared to a standard diet (C) reduce blood pressure (O)?