Table 1 Study characteristics

Accreditation of health care services

Alkhenizan, Shaw [33]

2011

6

26

South Africa, Zambia, Australia, Denmark, United States, Egypt, Philippines, Japan, Canada.

Hospitals (N = 13), Units (N = 8), Patients (N = 2), Facilities (N = 1), Employees (N = 1), Program (N = 1)

Flodgren, Pomey, Taber et al. [31]

2011

9

2

England, South Africa

England: all acute hospital trusts. South Africa: 18 hospitals

Greenfield, Braithwaite [34]

2008

7

66

Ireland, United Kingdom, Australia, France, Italy, Spain, Canada, U.S.

Not specified.

Local leadership

Thomson O’Brien, Oxman, Haynes et al. [27]

2000

6

8

United States, Canada, China

Health professionals (N > 296), US communities (providing care for patients with cancer; N = 6), Hospitals (deliveries; N = 20), Hong Kong hospital (N = 1), Canadian Community hospitals (deliveries; N = 16); US hospitals (AMI; N = 37), US hospitals (rheumatoid arthritis; N = 6), US hospitals (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; N = 16), US hospitals (osteoarthritis; N = 6).

Continuing medical education

Bloom [28]

2005

3

26

Not specified

Not specified

Lam-Antoniades, Ratnapalan, Tait [58]

2009

5

15

Not specified

Nursing facility managers (N = 45), Physicians/Nurses (N = 2172)

O’Brien, Freemantle, Oxman et al. [59]

2001

8

32

United States (N = 24), United Kingdom (N = 2), Australia (N = 1), Brazil (N = 1), France (N = 1), Indonesia (N = 1), Sri Lanka (N = 1), Zambia (N = 1)

2995 health professionals

Promoting a consistent positive patient safety culture across the hospital

Morello, Lowthian, Barker [20]

2013

9

21

United States (N = 15), UK (N = 3), Canada (N = 1), Europe (N = 1), Australia (N = 1)

Not specified

Weaver, Lubomski, Wilson et al. [41]

2013

7

33

United States, United Kingdom, Canada. Australia. N not specified by country.

Not specified. Study sample sizes ranged from 5461 persons working in 144 units in a single hospital to 28 individuals working within a single hospital unit.

Promoting a consistent positive organizational culture across the hospital

Griffiths, Renz, Hughes et al. [21]

2009

6

30

Argentina (N = 1), Canada (N = 2), England (N = 6), France (N = 1), Malta (N = 1), Switzerland (N = 1), Thailand (N = 1), United Kingdom (N = 3), United States (N = 5), Not specified (N = 9)

Nurse managers (N = 91), patients (N = 1070), nurses (N = 2013), physicians (N = 188), managerial staff (N = 144), hospitals (N = 301), not specified (N = 3)

Parmelli, Flodgren, Beyer et al. [60]

2011

7

2

USA (N = 2)

Not specified.

Scott, Mannion, Marshall et al. [61]

2003

8

10

UK (N = 2), United States (N = 8), Canada (N = 1)

Patients (N = 7605), managers (N = 77), management teams (N = 536), nurses (N = 899), physicians (N = 2504), not specified (N = 1)

Computerised clinical decision support systems

Brand, Barker, Morello et al. [62]

2012

4

57

Not specified.

Not specified.

Bright, Wong, Dhurjati et al. [63]

2012

10

148

United States (N = 189), Europe (N = 62), Canada (N = 24), Multi-country (N = 10), Brazil (N = 1), Australia (N = 1), New Zealand (N = 1), Not specified (N = 5)

Not specified.

Chan, Chan, Cafazzo et al. [22]

2012

10

18

North America (N = 17), Europe (N = 1)

Patients (N = 44529)

Chaudhry, Wang, Wu et al. [64]

2006

6

257

Not specified.

Not specified.

Damiani, Pinnarelli, Scopelliti et al. [65]

2009

5

22

United States (N = 15), United Kingdom (N = 2), Italy (N = 1), Switzerland (N = 1), Canada (N = 1), Australia (N = 1), Costa Rica (N = 1)

Not specified.

Damiani, Pinnarelli, Colosimo et al. [49]

2010

8

45

Europe (N = 11), United States (N = 33), Oceania (N = 1)

Inpatient patients (N = not specified); outpatient patients (N = not specified); physicians (N = not specified); other care givers (N = not specified).

Garg, Adhikari, McDonald et al. [23]

2005

9

100

United States (N = 69), United Kingdom (N = 14), Canada (N = 5), Autralia (N = 4), Italy (N = 2), Austria (N = 1), France (N = 1), Germany (N = 1), Israel (N = 1), Norway (N = 1), Switzerland (N = 1)

Practitioners or practices (N > 3826); patients (N > 92,895).

Hemens, Holbrook, Tonkin et al. [66]

2011

8

65

United States (N = 44), EU/EEA countries (N = 13), Canada (N = 3), other/multiple countries (N = 5)

Health professionals (N = 8,932); patients (N = 1,246,686)

Jamal, McKenzie, Clark [67]

2009

7

23

United States (N = 14), United Kingdom (N = 3), France (N = 3), Norway (N = 1), The Netherlands (N = 1), Canada (N = 1)

Health professionals (N = not specified)

Kaushal, Shojania, Bates [29]

2003

7

12

USA (N = 12)

Patients (N = ranging from 17 to 7490 per study)

Kawamoto, Houlihan, Balas et al. [68]

2005

7

70

Not specified.

Clinicians (N = 6000); patients (N = 130,000)

Main, Moxham, Wyatt et al. [35]

2010

9

24

United States (N = 17), United Kingdom (N = 2), Spain (N = 2), France (N = 1), The Netherlands (N = 1), Belgium (N = 1)

Patients (N = 264,405); Physicians (N = 2,363)

Pearson, Moxey, Robertson et al. [30]

2009

7

56

North America (N = 39), Europe (N = 15), other (N = 2)

Health professionals (N = not specified)

Sahota, Lloyd, Ramakrishna et al. [69]

2011

9

36

United States (N = 22), The Netherlands (N = 4), United Kingdom (N = 3), Germany (N = 2), New Zealand (N = 2), Australia (N = 2), Brazil (N = 1), Canada (N = 1), Denmark (N = 1), Israel (N = 1), Lithuania (N = 1), Norway (N = 1), Portugal (N = 1). Note: Some of the studies were performed in multiple countries.

Health professionals (N = 3,417); patients (N = 202,491)

Shojania, Jennings, Mayhew et al. [70]

2009

11

28

United States (N = 19), United Kingdom (N = 2), Italy (N = 1), Norway (N = 1), Australia (N = 1), Canada (N = 2), New Zealand (N = 1), The Netherlands (N = 1)

Provider teams (N = 10); providers (N = 1,138)

Wong, Yu, Holbrook [71]

2010

6

4

Canada (N = 1), Israel (N = 1), United States (N = 2)

Patient visits (N = 80,471)

Guidelines dissemination and implementation

Grimshaw, Eccles, Thomas et al. [72]

2006

9

235

United States (N = 167); Other countries (N = 68)

Not specified.

Grimshaw, Thomas, MacLennan [38]

2004

9

235

United States (N = 167), United Kingdom (N = 26), Canada (N = 14), Australia (N = 2), The Netherlands (N = 1), Denmark (N = 1), France (N = 1), Germany (N = 1), Israel (N = 1), Mexico (N = 1), New Zealand (N = 1), Norway (N = 1), Norway (N = 1), Sweden (N = 1), Thailand (N = 1),

Physicians (N = not specified)

Interventions to improve handovers

Arora, Manjarrez, Dressler et al. [73]

2009

4

10

Not specified.

Nurses (N = 38); patients (N = 3843); medical residents (N = 107)

Gordon, Findley [74]

2011

5

10

Not specified.

Health professionals (N = 343)

Mistianen, Francke, Poot [75]

2007

9

15

Not specified.

Patients (N = not specified)

Ong, Coiera [24]

2011

6

24

United Kingdom (N = 1); Autralia (N = 1); Other (N = 22)

Malpractice claims (N = 444); handover incidents (N = 334); critical incidents (N = 176); transfers (N = 323); nurses (N = 579); clinicians (N = 458); patients (N = 3974)

Shepperd, Parkes, McClaran et al. [47]

2004

9

11

United States (N = 5), United Kingdom (N = 3), Canada (N = 2), Denmark (N = 1)

Patients (N = 5448)

Patient-centred care interventions

Coulter, Ellins [76]

2007

2

129

Not specified.

Not specified.

Lewin, Skea, Entwistle [77]

2001

8

17

North America (N = 11); United Kingdom (N = 3); Switzerland (N = 1); Norway (N = 1); Trinidad and Tobago (N = 1)

Health professionals (N = not specified); patients (N = not specified)

Stone, Pogorzelska, Kunches et al. [51]

2008

5

42

United States (N = 27); Other (N = 15)

Patients (N = nearly 200,000)

Six sigma and Lean for continuous quality improvement

DelliFraine, Langabeer II, Nembhard [78]

2010

7

34

The Netherlands (N = 1); other countries (N = 33)

Hospital departments (N = 12); hospitals (N = 11); managed care company (N = 1)

Glasgow, Scott-Caziewell, Kaboli [32]

2010

8

47

United States (N = 45); Australia (N = 1); The Netherlands (N = 1)

Hospital/department (N = 35); Other not specified.

Nicolay, Purkayastha, Greenhalgh [39]

2012

11

34

United Kingdom (N = 1); Switzerland (N = 1); India (N = 1); Finland (N = 1); Australia (N = 1); Taiwan (N = 2); Germany (N = 2); France (N = 2); The Netherlands (N = 3); United States (N = 20)

Patients (N = 293,406); hospitals (N = 8); Not specified (7 studies).

Performance information

Conry, Humphries, Morgan et al. [5]

2012

9

20

Not specified.

Patients (N = 17,622); nurses (N = 69); hospital (N = 2117); physician (N = 23); not specified (2 studies)

De Vos, Graafmans, Kooistra et al. [40]

2009

5

21

United States (N = 17); Canada (N = 1); Australia (N = 1); Sweden (N = 1); Laos (N = 1)

Hospitals (N = 1988)

Ketelaar, Faber, Flottorp et al. [52]

2011

9

4

United States (N = 3); Canada (N = 1)

New medicaid beneficiaries or enrolees (N = 24,856); Hospitals (N = 86); Not specified (1 study)

Marshall, Shekelle, Leatherman et al. [79]

2000

2

21

United States (N = 21)

Health care providers (N = 14); health care consumers (N = 3); health care purchasers (N = 2); health care providers and purchasers (N = 1); hospitals (N = 3)

Schauffler and Mordavsky [25]

2001

0

32

United States (N = 32)

Health care consumers (N = 14); health care providers (N = 14); health care purchasers (N = 3); health report cards (N = 1), hospitals (N = 1)

Veloski, Boex, Grasberger et al. [36]

2006

4

41

Not specified.

Not specified.

Audit and feedback

Hysong [80]

2009

5

19

Not specified.

Not specified.

Ivers, Jamtvedt, Flottorp et al. [37]

2012

11

140

United States (N = 69); Canada (N = 11); UK/Ireland (N = 21); Australia/New Zealand (N = 10); Sudan (N = 2); Thailand (N = 1); Laos (N = 1); other (N = 25).

clusters/groups of health providers (N = 2310); health professionals (N = 2053)

Hospital incident reporting

Benn, Koutantji, Wallace et al. [26]

2009

6

23

United Kingdom (N = 4); United States (N = 13); New Zealand/ Australia (N = 3); France (N = 1); Japan (N = 1); Israel (N = 1)

Not specified.

Percarpio, Watts, Weeks [81]

2008

7

38

Not specified.

Not specified.

Safety checklists

Ko, Turner and Finnigan [48]

2011

11

9

Not specified.

Intensive care unit (N = 5); emergency department (N = 2); Surgery (N = 1); Acute Care (N = 1)

Educational outreach visits

O’Brien, Rogers, Jamtvedt et al. [82]

2007

10

69

North America (N = 23); United Kingdom (N = 22); Europe (N = 14); Australia (N = 8); Indonesia (N = 2); Thailand (N = 1)

Health professionals (N > 15,000)

Multiple quality improvement strategies

Aboelela, Stone, Larson [50]

2007

10

33

North America (N = 17); Europe (N = 7); South America (N = 5); Middle East/Asia (N = 4)

Acute care (general units; N = 4); ICU (N = 20); entire hospital (N = 9)

Grimshaw, Shirran, Thomas et al. [3]

2001

8

41

Not specified.

Not specified.

Scott [4]

2009

0

Not specified.

Not specified.

Not specified.