Presenting Your PICO(T) Process Findings to Your Professional Peers

My name is ___, and today I will be giving a presentation on my PICO(T) process results on how to enhance care coordination among children with sickle cell disease. Sharing evidence-based results is a large-scale role in professional nursing practice today, which enhances patient outcomes and coordinates evidence-based care provision to patients affected by sickle cell disease (SCD) – a disease that significantly affects the health and well-being of children. By sharing research, nurses are able to collaborate in coming up with informed decisions, thus enhancing patient outcomes. PICO(T)-based research findings can also be used to reinforce nursing practice, as they allow nurses to offer superior quality care to populations of vulnerable patients.

Explanation of Diagnosis: Acute Heart Failure

Sickle cell disease (SCD) is a genetic disorder of the blood that leads to the red blood cells assuming an abnormal shape of a sickle, resulting in blockage of blood vessels. This blockage further causes pain crises, which lead to organ damage and a much lower quality of life, as Tebbi. Complications of SCD have been observed to include stroke, infection, and severe retarded growth and development delays among children (2022). Thus, SCD is potentially risky in the long term and will demand early, regular, holistic management approaches to reduce the risks.

Severe crises of pain in children with SCD may lead to frequent hospitalisations and lost school time; consequently, affecting emotional balance, family life, and general health outcomes of individual patients in a negative way. Jain et al. (2026) believe that insufficient pain management and insufficient care delivery among different groups of people with SCD will largely contribute to the deterioration of health conditions and general emotional well-being. It is therefore urgent that nurses learn about these risks and complications to be capable of offering effective patient-centred care to individuals with SCD.

PICO(T) Research Question

Research Question: What is the difference between improved care coordination (I) and usual care (C) with children with sickle cell disease (P) in terms of the frequency and intensity of pain crises and health outcomes (O) during six months (T)?

PICO(T) Components

· P (Population): Children with sickle cell disease

· I (Intervention): Improved care coordination

· C (Comparison): Standard care

· (Outcome): Frequency and severity of health outcomes and pain crises

· T (Time): Over 6 months

Explanation of PICO(T) Criteria Application

The core of an evidence-based practice is the use of clinical questions that are based on evidence to create credible research and enhance patient outcomes. PICO(T) helps nurses to have a structured approach to identifying the different patient populations, interventions applied to the patient populations, and recognized measures that emanate from the interventions. Albertson et al. (2021) confirm that a more effective intervention can be developed based on the development of structured questions to orchestrate care, as work with patient groups that inappropriately use healthcare resources will be carried out more effectively. The question is in response to the main barriers that SCD patients face in an attempt to access timely and integrated healthcare services.

Evidence Summary

Some reliable sources have been consulted to respond to the PICO(T) question on pediatric Sickle Cell Disease (SCD) patient care. All sources offer a specific point of view or evidence in terms of better care coordination and/or better outcomes. Schlenz et al. (2025) performed a National Institutes of Health (NIH) funded qualitative research study looking at barriers and facilitators of comprehensive pediatric SCD care; this peer-reviewed source is very trustworthy and applicable to addressing challenges encountered by children with SCD in relation to accessing care. The quantitative research by Schieve et al. (2022) demonstrates the difference between adherence to preventative care and decreased morbidity of complications in children with SCD. Freitas et al. (2025) performed a rapid review that confirms nurses play an important role in coordinating patient care, educating patients, and advocating for patients. Also, Ge et al. (2023) give additional reasons that community nurses can play a key role in the organization of successful chronic disease management and continuity of care among patients. These sources come as a great source of support, credibility, and relevance in the definition of evidence-based nursing practice among children with SCD.

Analysis of Evidence and Answer to PICO(T) Question

According to several studies, the better the care coordination of children with sickle cell disease (SCD), the better their outcomes. Increased coordination of care implies fewer pain crises, increased access to health care, and more family involvement in the care of their children. Khatri et al. (2023) demonstrate that continuity and coordination of primary health care (PHC) are crucial to enhancing patient outcomes in chronic disease populations. Therefore, coordinated care can be considered one of the most evidence-supported interventions to enhance SCD management in children.

Besides, care coordination minimizes systemic barriers, including transportation, provider knowledge gaps, and appointment delays, which cause a lack of timely treatment and unnecessary complications and hospitalizations. According to Schlenz et al. (2025), developing positive relationships with providers and providing support services were some of the keys to enhancing the outcomes of SCD patients. On the whole, these papers show that integrated and supportive care can significantly increase the health and well-being of children with SCD.

Assumptions Underlying the Analysis

Assuming that perceived barriers to care among various pediatric populations with sickle cell disease (SCD) will be similar regardless of clinical setting/location, it should be noted that the current analysis assumes that care coordination interventions can be feasibly implemented within existing healthcare systems/resources, also, according to the pieces of evidence that Connor references. (2023), evidence-based practice (EBP) models demonstrate steady evidence of patient outcomes and a payoff on health care investments. Although these assumptions are valid, they should be kept in mind when extending any of the findings of the study to other clinical/community settings.

Key Steps of Care Based on Evidence

There is evidence that the implementation of some key nursing care measures can significantly result in improved outcomes for children with sickle cell disease (SCD). Among them is the necessity for nurses to plan regular care coordination programs that enable communication between the providers, between the child and family, and between the providers, child, and family. These coordinated efforts also help ensure that care remains consistent across different settings and over time. Freitas et al. (2025) confirm this by highlighting that nursing-initiated care coordination, education, and complication detection have a positive effect on the pain results of children with SCD. The reason for including these measures is that they are directly related to the main barriers and facilitators identified in the literature reviewed.

Conclusion

In this presentation, the PICO(T) framework has been presented as it extends to the organization of care regarding sickle cell disease patients of pediatric age. There has been excellent evidence that with improved coordination of care, a decrease in pain crises will occur and quality of life will improve among the children with SCD. The implementation of strategies on the basis of the research is carried out by nurses; hence, through the implementation of those steps in the framework of this evidence base, the quality of care provided to children with sickle cell disease will rise considerably.