TimelyScholarFree Tools › PICOS Eligibility Criteria Builder
Turn your review question into clear inclusion and exclusion criteria with PICOS, PECOS, PCC or SPIDER, and copy a formatted eligibility table or paragraph for your protocol.
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| Criterion | Inclusion | Exclusion |
|---|---|---|
| Population | Adults (18 years or older) at risk of pressure ulcers in hospitals or long-term care | People with an existing pressure ulcer at the dressing site |
| Intervention | Prophylactic silicone foam dressings applied to the sacrum or heels | Dressings used to treat existing ulcers |
| Comparator | Standard care without dressings, or other dressing types | |
| Outcomes | Incidence of pressure ulcers (primary); ulcer severity, adverse skin events, cost (secondary) | |
| Study design | Randomized controlled trials, including cluster-randomized trials | Non-randomized studies, case reports, reviews |
| Language | No language restrictions | |
| Publication dates | From database inception to the search date | |
| Other limits | Conference abstracts included if they report sufficient data |
Your entries are saved in this browser only. Specify criteria precisely enough that two reviewers would make the same decision, and justify any language or date limits in your protocol.
PICOS for interventions, PECOS for exposures, PCC for scoping reviews, SPIDER for qualitative evidence.
For each element, plus language and date limits.
Into your protocol, PROSPERO record or manuscript.
Eligibility criteria combine the elements of the review question with the types of study to be included. PRISMA 2020 asks authors to specify them and explain how studies were grouped for the synthesis.
Criteria should be specific enough that two reviewers working independently reach the same decision. State any language or date limits and justify them.
Different questions suit different frameworks: PICO for interventions, PECO for exposures, PCC (population, concept, context) for scoping reviews and SPIDER for qualitative evidence.
Population, Intervention, Comparator, Outcomes and Study design.
Often not: excluding studies that did not report an outcome can introduce bias. Many reviews list outcomes to be collected rather than using them to select studies.