Selection process for papers included in the analysis
| Original search of Medline, CINAHL, Embase, PsycINFO, and Cochrane databases from January 1995 to June 2006 to find papers about the effectiveness of collaboratives | Update: search of Medline database from 2006 to week 2 of June 2009 to find papers about the effectiveness of collaboratives | |
|---|---|---|
| Potentially relevant articles identified and screened for retrieval | n=1104 | n=263 |
| Articles excluded after abstract review: did not fulfil inclusion criteria or were duplicates | n=929 | n=202 |
| Retrieved for more detailed evaluation | n=175 | n=61 |
| Excluded after full text search: did not fulfil inclusion criteria | n=121 | n = 17 (3 articles were already included in the 1995–2006 search; 1 article was the BMJ review paper) |
| Articles included that describe the effectiveness of collaboratives | n=54 | n=44 |
| Additional articles identified from reference list search | n=18 | n=5 |
| English-language articles: data about and descriptions of the effectiveness of collaboratives in a healthcare setting | n=72 | n=49 |
| Articles that also quantitatively assess a relationship between any determinant and any effect parameter of the study | n=10 | n=13 |
| 14% | 27% |