Table 2.
Characteristics of seven included studies for Question 1
| First author (year) [citation] | Design | Critical appraisal | Country | Setting | Specialty | Condition | Type | Warranted or unwarranted | Patient characteristics | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Y | N | NA or CD | |||||||||
| Facchin (2023) [29] | A comparative study with concurrent controls | 6 | 4 | 2 | Italy | In-patient hospital | Bariatric surgery | Obesity | Malpractice claims | Both | Type of body contouring procedure |
| Grandizio (2021) [24] | A comparative study with concurrent controls | 8 | 2 | 2 | USA | Mixed | Hand surgery | Hand surgery | Complaint | n/s | Age, sex, BMI > 30, race, marital status, employment status, tobacco use, insurance status, mental behavioural or neurological disorder, diagnosis, treatment, complications |
| Jones (2021) [27] | A comparative study with concurrent controls | 8 | 2 | 2 | UK | In-patient hospital | Neurosurgery | Chronic subdural haematoma | Complaint | n/s | Age, sex, complainant, ASA score, referred from other hospital, LOS, time from admission to operation, reoperation, complications |
| Kynes (2013) [25] | A comparative study with concurrent controls | 9 | 2 | 1 | USA | In-patient hospital | Anaesthesiology | Mixed | Complaint | n/s | Age, sex, race, procedural features (e.g. use of anaesthesia, actual minus scheduled start time), ASA score |
| Rae (2022) [26] | A comparative study with concurrent controls | 9 | 1 | 2 | USA | In-patient hospital | Orthopaedic surgery | Spinal surgery | Complaint | n/s | Age, sex, BMI > 30, race, marital status, employment status, tobacco use, insurance status, treatment (surgery), mental behavioural or neurological disorder, worker's compensation |
| Reader (2014) [3] | Other: systematic review of non-RCTs or literature review | 4 | 7 | 5 | – | Mixed | Mixed | Mixed | Complaint | n/s | Sex, complainant, setting |
| Robin Taylor (2020) [28] | A comparative study with concurrent controls | 10 | 0 | 2 | UK | In-patient hospital | Medical and surgical wards | End of life | Complaint | n/s | Age, sex, expected death, setting, LOS, advance plans, clinical 'problems', non-beneficial interventions, harms, treatment escalation limitation plan (TELP) |
Acronyms: ASA American Society of Anaesthesiologists, BMI Body Mass Index, LOS Length of stay, UK United Kingdom, USA United States of America, Y ‘Yes’, N ‘No’, NA ‘Not applicable’, CD ‘Cannot determine’, n/s not specified