Part 1

Emphasis on the fact that Mrs. Simon is a GP in a rural area, hence no access to advanced
medical knowledge (This should be like an introduction!) 275 words.

General medical practitioners in rural areas experience a lack of access to updated medical
informal. This is illustrated by the case of Mrs. Simon, a retired medical practitioner whose
husband is on medication, having suffered from a heart problem. Mrs. Simon consults with the
Doctor in charge of her husband's treatment advocating for the use of thrombectomy for his
surgery without knowing that the method is a way outdated. Since Mrs. Simon was once a
medical practitioner, a gap in medical information access in rural areas is depicted. There are
several reasons behind the lack of information access in rural areas. They include; Lack of
relevant technology. You find that most rural areas are remotely located, thus lacking essential
facilities such as libraries. Therefore, a medical practitioner in rural areas may require means of
accessing the information. Also, in rural areas, there are fewer medical facilities; thus, most of
the time, a medical practitioner has a lot of workloads. Due to heavy loads of work, the medical
practitioner may be prone to fatigue most of the time, thus lacking enough time to look for
supplementary information. A medical practitioner in rural areas tends to have fewer
interactions with other medical practitioners since sometimes they are deployed to work alone
in small clinics. Data can be transferred through general conversations. Therefore, fewer
interactions on the side of the health care provider may limit access to information. Lack of
updated information by health care providers in rural areas may negatively affect the health of
the patients as the use of wrong diagnosis procedures, as well as the use of wrong medication
may affect the future if not the current health of the patient. Therefore, the government should
introduce a measure to enhance access to medical information by medical practitioners in rural
areas.

Part 2

Define the term "PICO" (in medicine)

PICO is an acronym that stands for P (Patient's/ Population's Problem), I (Intervention), C

(Comparison/Control), and O (Outcome). PICO is a model used by formulators of Evidenced-
Based Practice (EBP) in identifying resources that are necessary for finding the relevant
evidence. Without this model, it would be difficult for researchers to formulate research
questions that are well focused.

Explain how to formulate a precise research question employing "PICO."

As per the provisions of PICO, before formulating research questions, you have to define a
patient as a member of the population, putting into consideration their ethnic group as well as
their social, economic resources. You should also consider the intervention that can be taken as
well as the existing comparable solution to the problem. Also, the results in terms of
improvement of quality of life as well as the wellbeing of a patient should be considered.

After determining background information through defining of PICO, the researcher should
then proceed to more complex questions. These questions formulated ate etiological questions
that address the risk factors to a problem, diagnostic questions that compare different tests
used for diagnostic, therapeutic queries which identify best options available for treatment as
well as prognostic consultations which establishes the treatment outcome. After doing this, the
general questions are dissected to make the research easy.

Briefly define the term NNT (in medicine)

In a medical setting, NNT is an acronym for Number Needed to Treat. The term refers to the
number of people a medical practitioner has to treat to thwart the occurrence of an adverse
outcome, such as getting a stroke or even death. A drug with an NNT of 5 has to treat five
patients to prevent the occurrence of an adverse outcome.