Table 3 Selected studies, with examples of their positive impacts linked to interventions

 Chin et al. [38]

Better communication, more confidence in meetings or speaking to colleagues

 Dattée et al. [39]

Change in mindset and practices from blame to mutual effort

 Kothari et al. [40]

More positive feelings about collaborative practices

 Mowles et al. [11]

Decrease in complaints, better staff retention, more focus in working practices

 Rowe et al. [41]

More flexible working practices

 Solomon et al. [42]

Referrals are quicker, more concise and appropriate

 Zimmerman et al. [24], Gardam et al. [66], Gitterman et al. [23]

25–50 % falls in hospital acquired infections (MRSA and CDAD) at most participating hospitals

 Backer et al. [44]

Some increases in breast cancer screening rates; extensive discussion of barriers

 Balasubramanian et al. [27], Stroebel et al. [67]

Faster prescription refill; improved system-wide communication

 Boustani et al. [46]

Fewer and shorter hospitalisations or visits to ER for dementia patients

 Cabin Creek [35]

Fall from 400 to 30 narcotic prescriptions (=decline in unnecessary medication)

 Capuano et al. [28]

Increased capacity in emergency dept., fewer diversions or transfer denials

 Clancy et al. [43]

Calculated 64 % increase in efficiency, 9 sheets of paper saved per patient

 Fontanesi et al. [29]

25 % increase in patient appointments, representing 9500 visits.

 Horbar et al. [30]

Newborns received first dose of surfactant sooner compared to previous period (21 vs. 78 min post birth, p < 0.001).

 Kegler et al. [25]

More collaborative working practices

 Khan et al. [31]

Reduction in average brain function impediment score, drop from 19.21 to 14.75

 MacKenzie et al. [32]

Turnaround time for beds reduced 210 to 54 min in 2004, maintained (2007)

 Moody-Thomas et al. [33, 34]

Smoking quit rates increased from 5.0 % in 2008 to 9.6 % in 2009.

 Parchman et al. [48, 49], Noël et al. [47]

Significant and sustained improvement in ACIC scores for chronic care: from 5.58 to 6.33 to 6.60 (group 1) or 5.27 to 5.99 (group 2), both p < 0.05.

 Positive Deviance [36, 37]

Large falls in MRSA and other hospital acquired infections at many medical centres

 Solberg et al. [45]

Diabetes management scores rose from 5.7 % to 42.9 %