Table 2

Characteristics of the included studies: interventions

Study and country	Setting	Educational programmes	Guidelines and protocols	Changes to funding	Reminders	Decision tools	Audit and feedback
Single-mechanism interventions
Adlan et al,22 UK	Hospital		X
Berwick and Coltin,17 USA*	Primary care	X					XX
Chu et al,24 Australia	Hospital		X
Cipullo and Mostoufizadeh,19 USA	Hospital		X
Daucourt et al,25 France*	Hospital				X	X
Emerson and Emerson,27 USA	Primary care					X
Feldkamp and Carey,28 USA	Hospital		X
Gama et al,18 UK	Hospital						X
Grivell et al,29 Australia	Hospital						X
Horn et al,45 USA	Primary care					X
Larsson et al,30 Mindemark and Larsson31 (follow-up), Sweden	Primary care	X
Schectman et al,33 USA	Primary care	X
Tierney et al,35 USA	Primary care					X
Thomas et al,10 UK*	Primary care				X
Multifaceted interventions
Baker et al,23 UK	Primary care		X				X
Daucourt et al,25 France*	Hospital				X	X
Dowling et al,26 USA	Primary care	X					X
Hardwick et al,44 Canada	Primary care		X	X
Nightingale et al,32 UK	Hospital	X				X	X
Rhyne and Gehlbach,43 USA	Primary care	X	X
Schectman et al,33 USA*	Primary care	X			X		X
Stuart et al,34 Australia	Hospital	X	X				X
Thomas et al,10 UK*	Primary care				X		X
Tomlin et al,36 New Zealand	Primary care	X	X				X
Toubert et al,37 France	Hospital		X		X
van Gend et al,38 The Netherlands	Primary care					X	X
van Walraven et al,39 Canada	Primary care		X	X		X
Vidal-Trécan et al,40 France	Hospital	X	X			X
Willis and Datta,41 UK	Hospital	X	X
Wong et al,42 USA	Hospital		X			X

XX—two independent interventions of the same type.
*Study comparing directly two alternative interventions (Schectman et al33 had a non-comparative single-intervention design in its first phase and a multifaceted comparative design in the second phase; Thomas et al10 compared a single-mechanism (reminders) vs multifaceted (feedback plus reminders) interventions; Daucourt et al25 compared two single-mechanism interventions with their combination and usual practice defined as simple diffusion of guidelines).