Table 1 Inclusion/Exclusion Criteria and Search Strategy for PubMed

Population

Any type of health care organization

Non- health organization

hospitals[MeSH Terms]

hospital department[MeSH Terms]

health[MeSH Terms]

Intervention

Performance assessment of health care organizations through implementing BSC

Studies that used other TQM tools such as MBNQA, ISO, SQA, six-sigma, etc.

“quality indicators, health care”[MeSH Terms]

scorecard*[Text Word]

“score card*”[Text Word]

Comparator

-Initiation of BSC implementation (at least one year of implementation)

-Or: Comparing 2 measurements after BSC implementation for at least one year

-Or: Gross change/ difference after at least one year of implementation

- Initiation of BSC implementation was in less than one year.

-Gross change/ difference after less than one year

-One-time measurement with no comparability.

No limitation was set in the search strategy, studies that measured BSC impact within less than one year of implementation were excluded after carefully examining the full texts.

Outcome

-Impact on financial indicators: profitability/loss, change in total revenues, change in total cost, ROI, ROA either in currency or in percentage.

-Or: Impact on the patient satisfaction rate

-Or: Impact on the HCWs’ satisfaction rate

-The impact should be objective and measured/ quantitative.

-Impact on other indicators.

-Number of patient complaints

-HCWs’ burnout or turnover rate.

-Cost/case or revenue/case change

-Qualitative or subjective impact, for example: the managers’ opinions in impact

patient satisfaction[MeSH Terms]

cost-benefit analysis[MeSH Terms]

health care costs[MeSH Terms]

Hospital personnel management[MeSH Terms]

staff development[MeSH Terms]

knowledge management[MeSH Terms]

efficiency, organizational[MeSH Terms]

Study design

All study designs

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No limitation regarding study design, type, or time was set in the search strategy