Table 2

Characteristics of included studies

Category	Characteristics	Overall, n=29* (%)
Region	Asia	4 (17)43 50 52 60
	Europe	11 (38)15 29 44 45 48 61–65 (Staal et al, 2021)**
	North America	12 (41)28 46 47 51 55 66–72
	South America	2 (7)49 73
Setting	Clinical practice	2 (7)28 50
Setting	Experiment	27 (93)15 29 43 44 48 49 52 60 (Staal et al, 2021)
Specialism‡	Emergency medicine	5 (24)46 47 50 70 72
	Family medicine, general practice	4 (19)48 49 63 (Staal et al, 2021)
	Internal medicine	9 (42)15 45–47 55 60 62 65 68
	Osteopathy	1 (5)51
	Paediatry	1 (5)67
	Radiology	1 (5)66
Intervention	Checklist	13 (45)28 29 43 44 48 50 51 55 61 66 70 72 (Staal et al, 2021)
	Computerised decision support	2 (7)49 69
	Instructions at test (eg, red flag)	2 (7)15 67
	Guided reflection	12 (41)45–47 52 60 62–65 68 71 73
Comparator	Non-analytical instructions	8 (28)43 45–47 62–65
	Diagnosis without the tool	20 (69)15 29 44 48–52 55 60 61 66–73 (Staal et al, 2021)
	Usual care	1 (3)28
Expertise	Novice	13 (35)29 43 44 46–48 51 52 61 64 69 71 73
	Intermediate	17 (46)29 45–47 49 50 55 60 62–64 67 68 70 72 (Staal et al, 2021)
	Experts	7 (19)15 28 29 46–48 66
Intervention type	Content focus	29 (85)15 28 29 43–52 55 60–73 (Staal et al, 2021)
Intervention type	Process focus	5 (15)29 43 44 61 (Staal et al, 2021)
Intervention moment	During initial diagnosis	12 (41)28 44 46–49 51 61 66 69 71 72
Intervention moment	Verification after initial diagnosis	17 (59)15 29 43 45 50 52 55 60 62–65 67 68 70 73 (Staal et al, 2021)
Intervention items	Acknowledge	12 (41)28 29 43 44 46 47 51 61 67 70 72 (Staal et al, 2021)
Intervention items	Report	17 (59)15 45 48–50 52 55 60 62–66 68 69 71 73
Case difficulty	Simple	7 (41)45–47 63 64 68 (Staal et al, 2021)
Case difficulty	Complex	10 (59)15 45–47 63 64 68–70 (Staal et al, 2021)
Diagnostic task	Patient diagnosis	2 (7)28 52
	Visual diagnosis	9 (31)48 50 51 55 61 66 72 73 (Staal et al, 2021)
	Written case diagnosis	18 (62)15 29 43–47 49 60 62–65 67–71
Same cases used with and without intervention	Yes	13 (45)43 45 51 55 60 62–65 68 70 71 (Staal et al, 2021)
Same cases used with and without intervention	No	16 (55)15 28 29 44 46–50 52 61 66 67 69 72 73
Study intention	Evaluate	25 (86)15 28 29 43–52 55 61 64 66–73 (Staal et al, 2021)
Study intention	Fix	4 (14)60 62 63 65

*Totals in columns do not equal ‘overall’ as some studies did not report a variable or included multiple categories.
†Staal et al (2021) refers to unpublished data from Staal et al., Impact of diagnostic checklists on the interpretation of normal and abnormal electrocardiograms, 2021.
‡Studies with medical students were excluded as students are generally not specialised.