Table 1 Inclusion and exclusion criteria according to the PICO framework
From: The effectiveness of guideline implementation strategies in the dental setting: a systematic review
Population | |
Inclusion criteria | ⦁ Participants with a qualification in any dental profession. This could include dentists, specialists in endodontics, periodontics, orthodontics and special needs dentistry, dental assistants, dental therapists and dental hygienists ⦁ Participants that practiced in a clinical dental care setting |
Exclusion criteria | ⦁ Participants that follow oral- or dental-related guidelines but are not a dental practitioner, for example an ear, nose and throat surgeon or a nurse providing oral care |
Intervention | |
Inclusion criteria | ⦁ Any strategy that was utilised to facilitate the implementation of clinical guidelines into practice. These could include single interventions, which utilise a sole strategy, such as audit and feedback, education or reminders, and multifaceted interventions, which utilise multiple strategies concurrently |
Exclusion criteria | ⦁ Involved guideline dissemination as part of the intervention, meaning the comparison group or participants at baseline would not be aware of the guidelines to be able to implement them into practice |
Control | |
Inclusion criteria | ⦁ Exposure to disseminated guidelines only. Thus, participants in control groups should be aware of the existence of the guidelines, but no further intervention should be provided to facilitate their uptake |
Exclusion criteria | ⦁ No exposure to disseminated guidelines |
Outcome | |
Inclusion criteria | ⦁ Focussed on guideline adherence as a primary outcome. This could be measured by count or percentage of instances of guideline-adherent behaviour over a set time period. This could be performed prospectively using observation or retrospectively using audit or other similar methods |
Exclusion criteria | ⦁ Focussed on other outcome measures such as patient outcomes instead of guideline adherence |