Table 1.

Inclusion and exclusion criteria for study selection

PCC criteria	Inclusion criteria	Exclusion criteria
Population	Registered nurses and patients
Concept	Studies that describe decision support systems aimed at assisting charge nurses in assigning patients to nurses Studies that reported detailed aspects of the development, application and outcomes of CDSSs	Studies that do not provide an electronic decision support system, including those centred on patient acuity scale development or documented guidelines developed by professionals CDSSs that targeted non-nurse users
Context	Hospital inpatient setting	Outpatient setting
Types of sources	Original research irrespective of its study design Studies written in English and with full text available	Literature reviews, study protocols, commentaries and editorials Studies published before 2000 and not written in English Studies with inaccessible full texts

CDSS, clinical decision support system; PCC, population concept context.