Table 2 The final checklist
Organisation | Is it clear which organisation(s) are involved in the study? |
Has the proposal considered: | |
- How many study sites? How do these differ? | |
- How big is the organisation? | |
- What type of trust or authority is involved? e.g., Acute trust, ambulance trust, CCG, local authority, care trusts, mental health trusts, etc. | |
- Other information on organisational type, e.g., foundation trust status, teaching/research beacon site, CQC or other ratings if relevant | |
Location | Is it clear where the organisation is located? |
Has the proposal considered: | |
- What type of area it is, e.g., urban, rural, deprivation, etc. | |
- What are the population demographics? | |
Patient group | Is it clear what the case mix of patients is? |
Has the proposal considered: | |
- Who is receiving the intervention? | |
- How many patients are being seen? | |
- The characteristics of the patients, e.g., age group, health status, disease area. | |
Workforce and Staffing | Is it clear who are the main actors involved in service delivery? |
Has the proposal considered: | |
- Is the total workforce clearly described? e.g., are the skill, grade, and profession mix stated? | |
- How has the staff been selected? Are they already working at the organisation or are they new to the organisation? | |
- What if any training will be needed for staff to deploy the intervention? | |
Intervention | Is there enough information about the service or intervention under exploration/examination? |
Has the proposal considered: | |
- How is the intervention different from usual care? | |
- What does it consist of? What does it ‘look’ like? | |
- Is it clear when the intervention started and finished? | |
- If there are information materials are these adequately described? | |
- If there is a training programme, are there clear details? | |
Other important contextual information | Are there any other contextual aspects which may affect the outcomes of this research and generalizability to other sites? |
For instance, are there particular: | |
- Policy initiatives related to the intervention (such as national or regional patient safety or improvement initiatives) | |
- Particular issues at the study sites around exceptional leadership, for instance championing by nurse director or clinical team | |
- Local features such as unusual geographical or service configuration | |
- Events at the site, such as a critical safety incident or top team re-shuffle |