Introduction
The PICOT Statement plays a highly significant role in nursing practice; based on the collected information, it helps to frame the core of any medical investigation. This review analyzes the research concerning the importance of telemedicine for the geriatric population to prevent diabetes complications. It examines how the study supports the Picot Statement and the presence or absence of evidence.
Research Questions
The term PICOT consists of five words – Patient, Intervention, Comparison, Outcome, and Time. This format is frequently used in evidence-based nursing practice to formulate a clinical question in a statement to promote further investigation (Echevarria & Walker, 2014). For the formulating of the PICOT Statement, data collection is highly significant. For the information about patients, all data concerning patients’ gender, age, race, health status, and diseases are gathered. For the intervention, health care professionals elaborate on a treatment plan to perform; it may be therapy, medications, diagnostics, or specific tests. A new treatment plan should be compared with previous methods, or the necessity of treatment should be investigated in the segment of comparison. The outcome implicates the final results of the proposed treatment. The paradigm of time analyzes the time frame of treatment.
It is essential for nursing professionals to use an appropriate template while framing the PICOT Statement. Echevarria and Walker (2014) suggest five main question types and describe templates that may be used to frame them. These templates are meaning, etiology, diagnosis, prognosis or prediction, and intervention. The template of meaning is used to investigate the importance of experience for a particular individual, group, or society (Echevarria & Walker, 2014). Etiology is used to determine the main risk factors or the reasons for a condition (Echevarria & Walker, 2014). The diagnosis template helps to identify which test is “more accurate in diagnosing a condition” (Echevarria & Walker, 2014, p. 19). The prognosis, or prediction, the template is used by nurses to determine the dynamic pattern of treatment and potential complications of the patient’s condition. Intervention is a template that is used to identify which treatment will be the most effective (Echevarria & Walker, 2014). While time and comparison may be optional categories, Population, intervention, and outcome are the obligatory parts of any template.
Sample Populations
The resulting PICOT Statement is: “In the geriatric diabetic patients, the implementation of telemedicine, compared to traditional clinical visits, will decrease the concomitant effects of type 2 diabetes through 24/7 monitoring of the syndromes from home, over a six-month period.” This statement frame the question of whether telemedicine, as a new treatment monitoring practice, will be more efficient in reducing the potential risk of comorbid diseases of geriatric patients with type 2 diabetes. This statement uses the template of prognosis (prediction) as it is determined to evaluate the potential efficiency of a new method of observation.
The observed population category is elderly adults of the United States. Type 2 diabetes remains its position as one of the most prevailing diseases among the geriatric population, and the number of patients is expected to double over the next decades (Yakaryılmaz & Öztürk, 2017). The research focuses on the comorbid health problems of diabetes typical for older people. For instance, biological and epidemiological evidences support the connection between type 2 diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease (Barbagallo & Dominguez, 2014). Diabetes increases the risk of cognitive decline and dementia development; it potentially affects attention, psychomotor efficiency, memory and learning, speed and mental flexibility, and executive function (Barbagallo & Dominguez, 2014). A modified method of diabetes monitoring may decrease the threat of concomitant effects. Telemedicine is regarded as an innovative and cost-effective practice of screening that allows patients to observe their condition at home and provide clinicians with results via electronic communications. Over the six-month period, 24/7 monitoring of type 2 diabetes syndromes may minimize the risk of complications.
Limitations of the Study
This research may be limited due to a lack of evidence or collected data. First of all, for the category of patients in PICOT, the gathered information traditionally includes gender, age, race, ethnicity, socio-economical status, patient’s home conditions, health state, and diseases. Only the category of age is observed; however, the particular groups among the geriatric population may have difficulties in the achievement of the expected Statement’s results. For instance, homebound seniors and older people with low income will not be able to afford telemedicine due to the impossibility of combining it with traditional visits and insufficient funds. Unfortunately, ethnic minorities traditionally have issues with access to innovative practices and health care in general as well.
Conclusion
The PICOT is frequently used in evidence-based nursing practice to formulate a clinical question in a statement to determine the diagnosis and the meaning or prediction of treatment. According to the formulated PICOT Statement, over the six-month period, 24/7 monitoring of type 2 diabetes syndromes via electronic communication may minimize the risk of comorbid conditions among the geriatric population. However, the research may be regarded as deficient due to a lack of details about patients. It is recommendable to gather additional information concerning patients’ gender, socio-economic status, mobility, and ethnicity for further investigations.
References
Barbagallo, M., & Dominguez L. J. (2014). Type 2 diabetes mellitus and Alzheimer’s disease. World Journal of Diabetes, 5(6), 889-893. Web.
Echevarria, I. M., & Walker, S. (2014). To make your case, start with a PICOT question. Nursing2014, 44(2), 18-19. Web.
Yakaryılmaz, F. D., & Öztürk, Z. A. (2017). Treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus in the elderly. World Journal of Diabetes, 8(6), 278–283. Web.