Table 1 Characteristics of included studies - cluster-randomised trials (n = 17)
First author, year | Participants’ conditions | Interventions | Controls | Main outcomes | Unit random. | Sample sizea |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Altiner, 2007 | Cough | Educational intervention (GPs and patients) | No intervention | Antibiotic prescribing | Physician | 104/2787 |
Becker, 2010 | Low back pain | Group 1: Multifaceted guideline intervention | Postal dissemination of the guideline | Functional capacity | Practice | 118/1378 |
Group 2: 1 + training of practice nurses | ||||||
Erler, 2012 | Elderly with chronic kidney disease | Multifaceted intervention helping adequate drug dosing | Usual care | Prescription exceeding recommended doses >30 % | Practice | 46/404 |
Freiberger, 2013 | Community-dwelling elderly | Risk of falls prevention program | No intervention | Risk of falling (main outcome falls not yet available) | Practice | 33/378 |
Gensichen, 2009 | Depression | Case management (communication, monitoring, behavioural activation) | Usual care | Depressive symptoms | Practice | 74/626 |
Junius-Walker, 2012 | Elderly GP patients | Training on structured priority-setting consultation | No training | Doctor-patient agreement on priorities | Practice | 42/347 |
Kaufmann-Kolle, 2011 | Asthma bronchiale | Quality circles with open benchmark | Traditional anonymous feedback in quality circles | Inappropriate drug combinations, asthma severity | Quality circle | 6/unclear |
Krones, 2008 | All undergoing cholesterol measurement | Communication/shared decision-making in cardiovascular risk patients | Training on other subjects | Patient satisfaction, risk scores, participation | CME groups | 14/1132 |
Mehring, 2013 | Individuals with BMI ≥25 kg/m2 | Web-based weight reduction program | Usual care | Weight reduction at 12 weeks | Practice | 92/186 |
Mehring, 2014 | Individuals willing to stop smoking | Web-based weight reduction program | Usual care | Biochemically confirmed smoking status at 12 weeks | Practice | 92/168 |
Peters-Klimm, 2009 | Chronic heart failure | Multifaceted, interdisciplinary medical educational intervention | Single 3-h lecture | Quality of life | Practice | 37/168 |
Rosemann, 2007 | Osteoarthritis | Group 1: Case management training GPs | No intervention | Quality of life (Arthritis Impact Measurement Scales Short Form) | Physician | 75/1125 |
Group 2: 1 + courses also for nurses | ||||||
Szecsenyi, 2012 | Type 2 diabetes | Ideally implemented disease management | Usual disease management care | Achievement of target values for HbA1c and blood pressure | Practice | 177/7807 |
Tinsel, 2013 | Hypertension | Shared decision-making training | No training (usual care) | Patients’ perceived participation, blood pressure | Practice | 37/1120 |
Vollmar, 2007 | Dementia | Training in evidence-based dementia treatment (two slightly different groups) | Basic information (usual care) | Time to nursing home placement, death | Practice | 303/390 |
Vollmar, 2010 | GPs | Blended learning intervention on dementia care | Lecture and case discussion | Knowledge gain | Quality circle | 26/305 |
Vormfelde, 2014 | Patients receiving oral anticoagulation therapy | Educational program for patients provided by practice nurses | Brochure only | Knowledge, feelings about safety, complications | Practice | 22/345 |