Table 1.

Sample characteristics.

References	Design	Sample			Characteristics of the intervention and the comparator		Outcomes	Measurement instrument
Author Publication year Country		Healthcare professional Sample size: (N = )	Age: mean (SD)	Gender: % female
Management & building | workhours
Richter (2014)61 Germany	Before/after study	Physicians (N = before: 328, after: 994)	Before: 39.4, (9.1), After: 39.8 (9.3)	Before: 29.4% female, After: 36.6% female	European Union Working Time Directive.	No European Union Working Time Directive.	Sick Leave, burnout (emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, personal accomplishment)	Maslach burnout inventory, Sick leave from system
Ripp (2015)64 USA	Before/after study	Internal medicine physicians (N = before: 108, after: 123)	NR	Before: 56% female, After: 42% female	The July 2011 resident physician duty-hour regulations: 16-h continuous duty rule.	No duty hour restrictions.	Burnout prevalence, burnout, excessive sleepiness	Epworth sleepiness scale, Maslach burnout inventory
Turunen (2020)72 Finland	Quasi-experimental study	Nurses, midwifes, practical nurses, administrative assistants, pharmacists, physiotherapists, and other non-nursing professions (N = approximately 9000)	NR	89% female	Participatory working time scheduling software empowers hospital staff to help create schedules. It balances employee preferences with staffing needs, legal rules, and fairness. Staff submit preferred shifts within shift demands, while ward-level rules guide the process transparently.	Traditional scheduling. No participatory working time scheduling software.	Incident sickness absence spells, number of short sickness absence days per employee	Unknown instrument
Webster (2019)75 Australia	Before/after study	ICU nurses (N = before: 114, after: 152)	NR	79% female	8 1⁄2-h shifts, including 30-min meal break representing the standard working model for providing 24-h nursing care.	12-h shift rostering.	Satisfaction with roster, sleep, sick leave, number of incidents, accessed professional development, turnover	Self-devised, hospital administrative data on sick leave and incidents
Fond (2023)84 France	Quasi-experimental study	Nurses and nurse assistants (CG 1811; IG 1322)	40.88 (10.15)	99.86% female	12-h shifts.	7-h shifts.	Psychological demand, decisional latitude, social support, burnout	Job content questionnaire, Maslach burnout inventory
Fratissier (2021)81 France	Before/after study	ICU nurses and nursing auxiliaries (N = 116)	Age: <45 years: 79.3%; ≥45 years: 20.7%	NR	12-h shifts.	Two alternating day shifts (morning or afternoon) and one night shift in 10 h.	Time pressure difficulties, work-life balance, fatigue and/or weariness, sleep disorders attributed to work, upper limb complaints attributed to work, complaints concerning lumbar vertebrae attributed to work	EVREST questionnaire
Battle (2018)35 UK	Before/after study	ICU nurses (N = 123 (CG: 60, IG: 63))	NR	NR	12-h shifts.	8-h shifts.	Burnout (emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, personal accomplishment), sickness, personal injuries	Maslach burnout inventory, Number of physical injuries reported each month. All sickness data were taken from the official system
Levin (2019)48 Canada	Randomized cross-over trial	Physicians (N = 124 (CG: 60, IG: 64))	CG: 28.9 (3.7), IG: 30.1 (5.5)	CG: 47% female, IG: 52% female	Casino shifts either from 2000 to 0400 h (casino A) or 0400–1200 h (casino B). Attending physicians all worked standard shifts during the entire 12-month period.	Physicians worked standard overnight shifts from midnight to 0800 h.	Resident well-being, mood	Brief resident wellness profile
Lucas (2012)52 US	Randomized controlled trial	Physicians (N = 60)	Median: 38 (range 29–55)	48% female	Assignment to random sequences of 4-week rotations.	Assignment to random sequences of 2-week rotations.	Perceived stress, emotional exhaustion, inadequate workplace control, burnout	Minimizing error, maximizing outcomes, Maslach burnout inventory, National job burnout survey, Perceived stress scale
Lindeman (2013)50 USA	Before/after study	Physicians (N = before: 108, after: 104)	Mean: 30 (range 25–36)	NR	The July 2011 resident physician duty-hour regulations: 16-h continuous duty rule.	Before the implementation of duty hour regulation.	Quality of life (balance with personal commitments, balance with family, optimal functioning), satisfaction (work life quality, personal life quality, sleep amount), patient care quality, health, mental wellness, burnout, sleepiness	Center for epidemiologic studies depression scale, Epworth sleepiness scale, Maslach burnout scale, Self-devised, Short-form health survey
Nomura (2016)54 Japan	Before/after study	Pediatric physicians (N = before: 34, after: 41)	29.0 (1.9)	44% female	Duty hour regulations. An overnight call shift system was implemented in July 2011 to address the extended duty hours for pediatric residents.	No duty hour regulations.	Depression	Center for epidemiologic studies depression scale
Parshuram (2015)58 Canada	Randomized cross-over trial	ICU physicians (N = 41 (CG: 13, IG1: 14, IG2: 14) (807 patients))	Age 25–30: 66%, age 30–35: 21%, age >35: 9%, unknown/not reported: 4%	NR	Intervention 1 used 16-h overnight shifts (4:30 pm–8:30 am) with 24 h off. Weekdays had 8 am–5 pm shifts, and one resident worked weekends. Intervention 2 used 12-h overnight shifts (8:30 pm–8:30 am) for 3–4 nights, followed by 72 h off. Day shifts ran 8 am–4:30 pm or 8:30 pm, requiring an extra 8:30 pm handover.	24-h schedule (standard for Canadian ICU's): the resident's duty period began at 8 am and finished at 8:30 am the next morning. Overnight duty was followed by 24 h free of duty.	Sleepiness during the day, sleepiness during the night, burnout (depersonalization, emotional exhaustion, personal accomplishment), preventable adverse events, mortality	Maslach burnout inventory, Stanford sleepiness scale, Trained nurses observed handover, and multidisciplinary ward rounds
Rodriguez (2020)65 UK	Interrupted time series	Mental health ward nurses and patient care assistants (N = average number of staff per month before: 31.35, after: 29.21. Total number of observed weeks per ward before: 296, after: 167)	Before: 45.01 (4.12), after: 44.74 (4.05)	Before: 79.40% female, after: 78.03% female	12 h shifts.	8 h shifts.	Sickness absences	Hospital administrative data on sickness
Management & building | continuous improvement
Uchiyama (2013)73 Japan	Randomized controlled trial	Nurses (N = 308 (CG: 163, IG: 145))	CG: 31.7 (9.1), IG: 33 (9.6)	CG: 97.6% female, IG: 100% female	Participatory intervention with a 3-month intensive period followed by 3 months of implementation. Subchief nurses acted as key facilitators, attending group meetings, sharing challenges, and receiving guidance. They relayed information to staff and tracked progress via task sheets. A booster session after two months reviewed unit activities.	No participatory intervention.	Mental health, job demands, job control, supervisor support, coworker support, effort, reward, goals, efficiency, participatory management, competence development, work climate, leadership, feedback	Job content questionnaire, Quality work competence questionnaire, Center for epidemiology studies depression scale
Luo (2022)53 China	Controlled before/after study	Obstetric nurse (N = CG: 51, IG: 146)	CG: 32.82 (6.5), IG: 34.53 (6.5)	CG: 100% female, IG: 99% female	Continuous plan-do-check-act cycle was implemented. Nurses in the experimental group were trained on the obstetric nursing-sensitive quality indicators online and offline based on the KAP model. The indicators were applied in clinical practice, and obstetric nursing quality was continuously improved.	The quality control group included 2 head nurses, 8 delivery room leaders, 3 ward leaders, and 6 primary nurses. Head nurses organized seminars on quality indicators, while other leaders collected data. Monthly meetings focused on quality improvement strategies.	Job satisfaction	Obstetric nurses' job satisfaction questionnaire
Pan (2022)57 China	Non-randomized controlled trial	Nurses (N = 160 (CG: 80, IG: 80))	CG: 31.56 (1.34), IG: 31.64 (1.33)	98% female	PDCA cycle management model to ensure continuous improvement. The model comprises four stages: Planning, Implementation, Inspection, and Summary and Treatment Stage.	Routine nursing management.	Job satisfaction (family/work balance, job recognition, personal growth and development, wages and benefits, the work itself, relationship with colleagues, workload, management)	Job satisfaction rating scale
Niks (2018)55 Netherlands	Quasi-experimental study	Nursing department, laboratories, emergency department (N = at T1: 60 nurses, CG: 32, IG: 28. N = at T1: 35 laboratory, CG: 18, IG: 17)	Nursing department CG: 34.1 (10.8), IG: 40.4 (10.2); laboratory department CG: 45.5 (10.5), IG: 48.6 (11.4)	Nursing department CG: 90.6% female, IG: 92% female; laboratory department CG: 73.7% female, IG: 88.2% female	The DISCovery method consisted of three successive steps: (1) psychosocial risk diagnosis; (2) development of interventions; and (3) implementation of the interventions.	No DISCovery method.	Cognitive resources, emotional resources, physical resources, cognitive detachment, emotional detachment, physical detachment, work satisfaction, individual work performance, work performance team, work break conditions, concentration problems, teamwork, work satisfaction	Unknown instrument, VAS, DISC questionnaire, One item: “I am satisfied with my present job”, Rating own work performance and the work performance of their team
Schneider (2019)66 Germany	Interrupted time series	Emergency department physicians, nurses and administrators (N = 41)	NR	NR	Ten multi-professional meetings in which emergency department physicians and nurses developed solutions to work stressors in a systematic moderated process. Most solutions were consecutively implemented.	Control period with no meetings developing stress solutions.	Work system factors (patient stressors, job control, participation opportunities, work overload, personnel resources, information problems, uncertainty, overtime, social support, supervisor feedback), provider well-being (emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, depressive symptoms, job satisfaction, turnover intentions), quality of care (frequency of errors, patient safety)	Systems engineering initiative for patient safety, Maslach burnout inventory, One-item job satisfaction, Patient health questionnaire, One-item turnover intention, 3-item scale on the frequency of medical errors, One- item “Please rate the degree of patient safety in your department from your point of view”
von Thiele Schwarz (2015)74 Sweden	Quasi-experimental study	Physicians, nurses, assistant nurses, physiotherapists, managers, medical secretaries (N = 195 (CG: 90, IG: 105))	CG: 45 (12.1), IG: 46.7 (9.2)	CG: 91.2%, IG: 96.4	Health protection through Kaizen involves regular unit meetings to identify, discuss, test, and evaluate work problems. One to three employees act as representatives. Meetings occur 1–4 times per month.	No continuous improvement system (Kaizen).	Workability, productivity, self-rated health, self-rated sickness (frequency, duration)	One-item general health, Health and work questionnaire, One-item work ability index, Self-rated sickness with STEM questionnaire
Mericle (2023)82 USA	Before/after study	Nurse managers (N = 14)	NR	NR	PDCA improvement plan developing and implementing a nursing leadership action plan regarding wellbeing through a focused improvement event.	No improvement initiative.	Distress, autonomy, growth and development, true collaboration, work-life balance, health and safety, reward and recognition, scope and responsibility/span of control, authentic leadership, culture of accountability	Subjective Units of Distress Scale
Management & building | environment
Feeley (2019)42 Canada	Before/after study	NICU nurses (N = before: 54, after: 54)	32.94 (9.8)	96.3% female	The ward was redesigned with five 6-bed pods and 10 family rooms. New-borns start in pods for acute care and move to family rooms before discharge. Two rooms have full-size beds, and family rooms have lounge chairs for overnight stays. The unit features new equipment, indirect lighting, large windows with blinds, and portable phones for emergencies.	Previous design of the ward was an open ward with florescent lighting and windows on only 1 of the 4 walls. There was 1 room designated for mothers to express breast milk, and a parent room with 1 sofa bed for overnight stays.	Total stress, total obstacles, support from colleagues, support from supervisors, team effectiveness, global work satisfaction, adverse events	Team effectiveness tool, Job content questionnaire, Global measure of work satisfaction, Nurse stress scale, Data on incident reports
Bragard (2013)37 Belgium	Randomized cross-over trial	Physicians, nurses, psychologists, and secretaries of the radiation therapy department (N = 25)	36.6 (7.7)	84% female	The subjects used Luminette light glasses at work in the morning between 7:00 and 9:00 for a maximum of 30 min daily at least five days a week.	Not using Luminette.	Depression, sleepiness, general health, physical functioning, pain, emotional wellbeing/problems	Beck depression inventory, Epworth sleepiness scale, Short Form 36 survey
Copeland (2017)40 USA	Quasi-experimental and before/after study	Acute care unit nurses (N = before: 26, after: 35)	Before: 24.4 (9.8), after: 35.7 (10.7)	Before: 92% female, after: 91% female	Centralized nurses' stations.	Decentralized nurses' stations.	Job satisfaction, patient fall data	VAS, Electronic patient record data
McNeer (2016)56 USA	Randomized cross-over trial	Anesthesiologists (N = 20)	NR	40% female	Lunch breaks in noisy environments.	Quite lunch breaks.	Workload, lack of Energy, lack of motivation, physical exertion, physical discomfort, sleepiness	NASA task load index, Swedish occupational fatigue inventory
Simons (2018)68 Netherlands	Randomized cross-over trial	ICU nurses (N = 10)	34	70% female	High-intensity dynamic lighting provides up to 1700 lux (compared to 300 lux in standard settings) and adjusts colors based on a fixed rhythm, using ceiling-mounted fluorescent tubes in patient rooms.	Standard lighting settings.	Depression, fatigue, quality of life, sleep quality, feeling dull, feeling good, subjective sleep duration, activity, positive thoughts, positive events	Rating scale diary, Center for epidemiology studies depression scale, Fatigue assessment scale, World health organization quality of life scale
Tseng (2022)71 Taiwan	Non-randomized controlled trial	Operating room circulating nurses and nurse anesthetists (N = 20 circulating nurses, 16 nurse anesthetists, 18 operations with noise and 18 operations with popular Chinese songs, 17 operations with radio and 17 operations with Mozart)	NR	NR	Music during operations was tested. The experimental group received next to operating noise three types of music (surgeries with popular Chinese songs, FM radio talk show programs, and Mozart's music). The volume of music was also considered (55–60 dB vs. 75–80 dB, within-subjects).	Operating noise only	Workload, anxiety/emotional states	Subjective workload assessment technique questionnaire, State-trait anxiety inventory-state
Management & building | equipment support & patient handling
Dennerlein (2017)86 USA	Controlled before/after study	Registered nurses, licensed practical nurses, clinical nurse specialists, and patient care assistants (N = before: hospital A: 580; hospital B: 1011, after: hospital A: 499; hospital B: 971)	Hospital A: 42.7 (0.49), hospital B: 40.6 (0.43)	Hospital A: 93.5% female, hospital B: 91.4% female	The safe patient handling and mobilization program. The program included an organizational policy, the investment in equipment, broad-based training, and risk assessments. Additionally, the program included building a hospital-wide infrastructure for maintaining and servicing equipment, providing clean slings, embedding the use of equipment and practices into the care plan for each patient, implementing a mentoring program and utilizing a strong communication program with leaders, workers and clients.	No safe patient handling and mobilization program.	Any pain, work interference, safe patient handling, unsafe patient handling, safety practices	Nordic occupational safety climate questionnaire, Question: In general, how much did this pain interfere with your normal work? Three questions asked how often workers 1) transferred patients who could not bear weight without the use of equipment but with the help of a coworker, 2) transferred patients who could not bear weight without the use of equipment or the help of a coworker, and 3) transferred patients who were combative patients
Risor (2017)63 Denmark	Controlled before/after study	Nurses, service assistants, and therapists (N = CG 2010: 201, CG 2011: 172, IG 2010: 293; IG 2011: 271)	CG 2010 (number, %) <24: 4 (2%), 25–34: 85 (42%), 35–44: 48 (24%), 45–54: 31 (15%), 55–70: 28 (14%), unknown: 5 (2%), CG 2011 (number, %) <24: 9 (5%), 25–34: 69 (40%), 35–44: 36 (21%), 45–54: 31 29 (17%), 55–70: 20 (12%), unknown: 9 (1%), IG 2010 (number, %) <24: 10 (3%), 25–34: 128 (44%), 35–44: 53 (18%), 45–54: 64 (22%), 55–70: 34 (12%), unknown: 4 (1%), IG 2011 (number, %) <24: 15 (6%), 25–34: 117 (43%), 35–44: 51 (19%), 45–54: 58 (21%), 55–70: 25 (9%), unknown: 5 (2%)	CG 2010: 95% female, CG 2011: 93% female, IG 2010: 92% female, IG 2011: 92% female	Patient-handling equipment intervention. (1) Developing and sharing patient-handling guidelines to clarify responsibilities among staff groups and ensure proper use of equipment; (2) Establishing guidelines for purchasing new equipment, with a focus on reducing high physical workloads like manual patient lifting; (3) Allocating funds to purchase new patient-handling equipment at a rate of V13,300 per bed-ward; (4) Implementing a comprehensive training program for nursing staff in intervention bed-wards, including local instructors, manager training, and full-day training for other staff. New nursing staff received two-day training, covering the use of patient-handling equipment; (5) Weekly visits from the project manager to provide support and guidance to local instructors, managers, and nursing staff as needed.	No intervention.	Lower back problems, lower back medical support, absent due to lower back problems, neck and shoulder problems, neck and shoulder medical support, absent due to neck and shoulder problems, knee problems, knee medical support, absent due to knee problems, hand wrist problems, hand wrist medical support, absent due to hand wrist problems, aggression (experienced physically aggressive episodes, average number of physically aggressive episodes, experienced mentally aggressive episodes, average number of mentally aggressive episodes), staff with good or better health, number of accidents, number of accidents low-back	Respondents were asked if they had experienced physically or mentally aggressive episodes within the last 12 months, and if so, how many episodes. Respondents were asked about how many days they had experienced pain or disorder within the last 12 months. Respondents were asked if they had experienced a work-related accident within the last 12 months. Short-form health survey
Li (2021)49 China	Controlled before/after study	Nurses (N = CG: 10, IG: 10)	NR	NR	Standardized exercise plan for total knee arthroplasty patients which was showed through a 3-min video and a bedside interactive system for playing the video.	Patients received oral education, exercise demonstrations via a bedside interactive system, and quizzes to assess their understanding of the exercise plan, with additional tutorials as necessary.	Burnout (emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, reduced personal accomplishment), job stress	Nurses job stressors scale, Maslach burnout scale
Davalos (2024)85 USA	Non-randomized cross-over trial	Orthopedic surgery interns and residents (N= CG: 23, IG: 17)	NR	NR	Automated electronic medical record inpatient tracking lists	Manual electronic medical record patient lists	Negative impact on sleep, affecting job satisfaction, negative impact on patient care, workload	Self-devised
Management & building | workflow improvement
Thanarajasingam (2012)70 USA	Interrupted time series	Internal medicine physicians (N = 280. 15,926 patients on resident and nonresident services)	NR	NR	A census cap implementation, setting a maximum number of patients per department. A unit-based admission process grouped patients and care teams by department, with each physician overseeing a specific unit. This arrangement brought all healthcare professionals and patients together in one location.	No consensus limit and no unit-based admission process	Census/caseload was appropriate, opportunity to manage diverse pathology, opportunity and guidance to develop skills, patient safety (rapid response team events, cardiopulmonary resuscitation events, intensive care unit transfers, patient safety indicators, readmission within 30 days)	Self-devised, Unknown instrument
Hess (2015)45 Switzerland	Before/after study	Emergency department physicians, general practitioners, and nurses (N = before: 20, interim: 18, after: 22 participants)	36.3 (8.3)	84.2% female	A hospital-based primary care center was implemented with redesigned patient flow and integrated general practitioner services. GPs can work at the new center or the traditional out-of-hours service. Patients are triaged by a nurse and assigned to either the primary care center or emergency department based on severity.	Before the intervention, all emergency patients were treated in the traditional emergency department.	Overall job satisfaction	VAS
Management & building | care model
Hansson (2020)80 Sweden	Before/after study	Midwives (N = before: 58, after: 58)	Mean 44 (range 27–65)	NR	Midwifery model of care. The model includes among other things: midwife is together with the woman, using grounded knowledge, forming a reciprocal relationship to create a birthing atmosphere, women are centered.	No midwifery model of care.	Social support, work ability (knowledge, mental, emotional, collaborate, physical), worrying about reorganization, worrying about technology, worrying about manage at work, worrying about get unemployed, worrying about bullying, worrying to sex harassment, climate (boss consider your opinions, conflict involvement, uneasiness going to work), stress Burnout (personal, work related, client-related), demand, control, work environment (engagement, high demands on oneself, hard to say no, responsibility), sense of coherence	5-item job demands scale, 6-item job control scale, Karasek scale, Work stress questionnaire, Copenhagen burnout inventory, Perceived stress scale, unknown instrument
Social resources & support | emotional support
Liu (2022)51 China	Before/after study	Emergency department nurses (N = 50)	25.75 (2.64)	92% female	The rational emotional intervention included weekly 1-h sessions where nurses discussed their stress, anxiety, and nervousness in a calm setting. Emotional expressions were observed to identify causes of distress, while hierarchical management provided support and education.	No intervention.	Anxiety, depression, work stress (nursing profession/work score, time allocation/workload, working environment/equipment, patient nursing score, management/interpersonal), stress response (solve the problem, self-blame, ask for help, fantasize, retreat, rationalize), burnout, sleepiness	Nurses' work stress scale, Coping style questionnaire, Maslach burnout inventory, Pittsburgh sleep quality index, Self-rating anxiety scale, Self-rating depression scale
Goktas (2022)43 Turkey	Randomized controlled trial	Emergency department nurses (N = 60 (CG: 30, IG: 30))	CG: 28.70 (6.95), IG: 29.86 (7.56)	CG: 43.3% female, IG: 53.5% female	Motivational messages sent to nurses during Covid-19 pandemic.	No motivational messages.	Job satisfaction, compassion fatigue, Secondary trauma, occupational burnout	Compassion fatigue scale, Job satisfaction scale
Hata (2022)44 USA	Randomized controlled trial	Physicians, nurse practitioners, and certified nurse midwives (N = 23 (CG: 10, IG: 13))	NR	CG 91% female, IG 100% female	Monthly self-facilitated group meetings with structured discussion guide.	Monthly self-facilitated group meetings with no discussion guide or structure.	High depersonalization, high emotional exhaustion, overall high burnout, engagement, continuous burnout, empowerment at work, reaction to uncertainty, feel that department is committed to faculty wellbeing, feel sense of connection and community at work	Unknown instrument, physicians reaction to uncertainty scale, Maslach burnout inventory, Utrecht work engagement scale
Kose (2022)47 Turkey	Randomized controlled trial	ICU nurses (N = 87 (CG: 46, IG: 41))	Age CG: 26.9 (3.7), IG: 28.4 (7.6)	CG: 73.9% female, IG: 80.5% female	Nurses received 5–10 min breaks approved by the head nurse after message alerts. Motivational messages were sent to their phones daily at 09:00, 12:00, 17:00, and 19:00 for 21 days in the motivational group.	Nurses in the control group took breaks in accordance with their unit without messages.	Hopelessness, satisfaction with life, life orientation	Beck hopelessness scale, Life orientation test, Satisfaction with life scale
Ramanan (2020)62 USA	Before/after study	Neurology physicians (N = before: 21, after: 25)	NR	NR	The Resident Wellness Committee, co-chaired by a resident and staff neurologist, aimed to promote well-being through work-life integration, emotional and physical health, and social engagement.	No resident Wellness Committee.	Overall wellness	Self-devised
Ricou (2020)60 Switzerland	Randomized controlled trial	ICU nurses (N = 83 (CG: 42, IG: 41))	Age <40 CG: 72%, age <40 IG: 69%	CG: 80% female, IG: 78% female	Psychological support group sessions led by two psychologists for ICU teams during working hours	No psychological support sessions.	Burnout, hospital anxiety, hospital depression	Hospital anxiety and depression scale, Maslach burnout inventory
West (2014)76 USA	Randomized controlled trial	Physicians (N = 424 (CG: 37, IG: 37, non-study cohort: 350))	NR	CG: 35.1% female, IG: 32.4% female	The intervention included 19 biweekly physician discussion groups over 9 months, focusing on mindfulness, reflection, and shared learning. Participants received 1 h of paid time every other week. Sessions covered topics like self, patient, and balance, with check-ins, discussions, skill learning, and summaries.	Both trial arms received 1 h of protected time. In the control arm, participants could schedule and use this hour as they saw fit, without participating in discussion groups.	Engagement in work, overall burnout, stress, depression, overall quality of life, job satisfaction	Maslach burnout inventory, Perceived stress scale, Physician job satisfaction scale, Positive depression screen, VAS, Empowerment at work scale
Social resources & support | (additional) staff support
Bakhru (2019)36 USA	Randomized observation study	ICU fellows and faculty (N = 33 (13 fellows, 20 faculty))	Faculty median: 38.5 (range 36.5–14), fellow median: 32 (range 30–33)	Faculty 30% female, fellows 61.5% female	Nighttime staffing model. In the intervention, there were in-hospital residents with an in-hospital nighttime intensivist.	During the standard staffing model, there were in-hospital residents, with a fellow and faculty member available at nighttime by phone.	Falling asleep, trouble overnight being awaked and unable to fall asleep, waking up, quality of sleep last night, current feeling in AM, KSS sleepiness, alertness, stress, happiness, sickness, physical exhaustion, mental exhaustion	VAS, Pittsburgh sleep quality index
Clubbs (2019)39 USA	Quasi-experimental and before/after study	NICU nurses (N = before: 25, after: 32)	NR	NR	A volunteer-based developmental care partner program ran from November 2014 to October 2015, ensuring infants received necessary sensory exposures for brain development. Volunteers, including students and faculty, committed to at least one weekly shift and 50 contact hours per year.	No volunteers/informal cuddlers.	Burnout (emotional exhaustion, personal accomplishment, depersonalization), infections infants (relative risk, absolute risk difference, preventive fractions, number needed to treat, exposed cases impact number, incident rates)	Maslach burnout inventory, electronic patient record data
Zhu (2020)78 USA	Before/after study	Acute care unit nurses and residents (N = before: 121 nurses; 6 residents, after: 155 nurses; 40 residents)	NR	NR	The nightly huddle involved: 1) a meeting between the night float resident and charge nurse to discuss clinical concerns and action plans; 2) bedside evaluations of reported patient issues; and 3) a review of non-urgent nursing requests using a standardized checklist.	No nightly huddle.	Quality of teamwork, communication, quality (has the nurse staff ever failed to notify you regarding important pt care info), understanding of patients plan, rating of timeliness in resident response	Self-devised
Edwards (2024)83 USA	Randomized controlled trial	Pediatric endocrinologists and developmental-behavioral pediatricians (N = 4)	NR	Gender: 75% female	Presence of a medical scribe.	No medical scribe.	Burnout (emotional exhaustion, personal accomplishment, depersonalization)	Maslach burnout inventory
Social resources & support | optimizing teams
Ahn (2021)34 South Korea	Quasi-experimental study	Perioperative nurses (N = 60 (CG: 32, IG: 28))	28.25 (4.48)	96.7% female	The Teamwork Improvement Program included 4 sessions (60 min each) and web-based learning for 4–5 nurses per team. Activities involved teamwork games, discussions, and simulations. Modules covered team structure, communication, leadership, situation monitoring, mutual support, and a summary.	Control group receives no intervention.	Teamwork competencies (knowledge, attitudes, communication self-efficacy, skills and behavior), experience of surgical nursing errors	Learning benchmarks, Teamwork attitudes questionnaire, Teamwork perceptions questionnaire, Unknown survey
Amiri (2018)33 Iran	Randomized controlled trial	ICU nurses and supervisors (N = 61 (CG: 31, IG: 30))	33.46 (7.91)	86.9% female	Educational empowerment program. 2-day workshop (8 h). Hanging posters geared towards patient safety, patient safety culture, speaking out in situations of threat to patient safety and skills of the Team Strategies and Tools to Enhance Performance and Patient Safety, including communication, leadership, mutual support, situational monitoring skills.	Control group receives no intervention.	Teamwork within units, manager expectations and actions promoting patient safety, organizational learning and continuous improvement, management support for patient safety, overall perception of patient safety, feedback and communication on errors, communication openness, frequency of events reported, teamwork across hospital units, staffing, handoffs and transitions, Non-punitive response to errors, total scores of patient safety culture, safety score	Hospital survey on patient safety culture, One-item patient safety
Gausvik (2015)41 USA	Non-randomized controlled trial	Nurses, social workers, physical and occupational therapists, and patient care assistants (N = 62 (CG: 38, IG: 24))	NR	NR	Structured interdisciplinary bedside rounds on an acute care for the elderly unit.	The control group units utilized traditional physician-centric rounding.	Teamwork, understanding of plan, addresses fears/worries, team communication, family communication, efficiency, safety, job satisfaction	Self-devised
Personal development & recovery | role opportunities
Keenan (2018)46 Canada	Before/after study	Neurosurgery nurses (N = before: 31, after: 41)	NR	NR	Two nurse practitioners were appointed to advanced practice roles with clinical duties, including health assessments, ordering tests and medications (excluding benzodiazepines and opioids), and discharging patients. They collaborated with neurosurgery residents, led family meetings, and managed discharge planning. The APNs focused 80% on clinical work and divided the remaining 20% between education, research, and leadership.	No advanced practice nurse positions.	Communication, learning opportunities	Self-devised
Shamsi (2016)67 Iran	Quasi-experimental and before/after study	Emergency department nurses (N = 35)	31.63 (7.7)	31.4% female	The “Stabilization care delivery model” starts when a patient is admitted to the emergency department and continues until stabilization. Patients are categorized into five groups, and nurses are assigned to five groups based on their specialties and interests.	No stabilization model.	Length of stay, job satisfaction	Mohr man-Cooke-Mohr man job satisfaction scale, length of stay with a chronometer
Personal development & recovery | relax opportunities
Zion (2019)79 Israel	Before/after study	Nurses (N = 109)	39.0 (9.1)	100% female	Scheduled 30-min nap during an 8-hr night shift (23:00–7:00).	No powernap.	Subjective sleepiness	Karolinska sleepiness scale
Stevens (2020)69 USA	Non-randomized cross-over trial	Otolaryngology physicians (N = 19)	NR	47% female	Participants were allocated 2 h per week of protected nonclinical time. This time could be used for work-related administrative tasks or personal health and well-being activities.	No 2 h per week of protected time.	Burnout (emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, personal accomplishment), wellbeing, quality of life, job satisfaction, job stress, burnout, control over workload, sufficient time for documentation, time spent at home on EMR	Mini-Z survey, Maslach burnout inventory, One-item quality of life, Well-being index
Personal development & recovery | other team/setting opportunities
Zhong (2022)77 China	Non-randomized controlled trial	Operating room nurses (N = 5371 (CG: 2474, IG: 2891))	NR	NR	Fixed nurse teams are defined as operating room nurse teams within a surgical subdiscipline that works together for an extended duration, typically at least one year.	Non fixed nursing teams.	Quality (surgical patient assessment rate, surgery location mark assessment rate, allergy history assessment rate, rate of assessing antibiotics use 60 min before incision, sterilization indicator results assessment rate, surgical equipment and surgical materials availability rate, surgery name confirmation rate, surgical tools inventory rate, surgical specimen checking rate, postoperative surgical equipment inspection rate, patient acute pressure ulcer rate during surgery, rate of leaving surgical foreign objects behind, rate of perioperative drug use, transfusion reaction rate during the surgical period, unplanned extubation rate, incidence of needle punctures among medical personnel, incidence of surgical patients falling or falling out of bed, incidence of electrical burns, incidence of surgical site infections), job satisfaction	Rating scale, Unknown instrument
Byrne (2020)38 Australia	Non-randomized controlled trial	Nurses and midwives (N = 54 (CG: 29, IG: 24))	NR	NR	An exchange program paired rural/remote nurses or midwives with metropolitan/regional counterparts for a professional job swap, with options for three or six-month exchanges.	No exchange program.	Job Satisfaction, turnover intention, occupation attrition, burnout, global health, leadership, network adequacy, community fit, community sacrifice, organizational fit, organizational sacrifice	Rating scale, General health questionnaire, Burnout measure—short version, Job embeddedness measure, Turnover intention scale
Multi-categorical
Petrie (2022)59 Australia	Before/after study	Physicians (N = before: 279, after: 344)	Before: 21–30: 46.2%, 31–40: 29.5%, 41–50: 11.4%, 51–60: 8.9%, >61: 4% vs. 5%, after: 21–30: 44.1%, 31–40: 26.7%, 41–50: 14%, 51–60: 10.2%, >61: 5%	Before: 47.2% female, after: 46.6% female	The multi-model intervention included nine strategies: 1) Hiring an additional junior doctor to reduce overtime; 2) Establishing the Doctors Wellness Committee with 5 meetings annually; 3) Streamlining overtime claims; 4) Conducting the 2017 Doctors Wellness Survey; 5) Organizing a wellness forum; 6) Presenting mental health sessions; 7) Offering mental health training for staff; 8) Providing mandatory mental health training for doctors-in-training; 9) Implementing mentoring and peer support programs for interns.	Control period without multi-modal intervention.	Overall job satisfaction, work-related stressors, work-life balance, workplace support, workload, workplace bullying and harassment, psychological distress, suicidal ideation	Medicine in Australia: Balancing employment and life, self-devised, Kessler psychological distress scale

NR: not reported; IG: intervention group; CG: control group; ICU: intensive care unit; SD: standard deviation; PDCA: Plan Do Check Act; EU: European Union; CES-D: Center for epidemiologic studies depression scale; ESI: Emergency severity index; KAP: Knowledge, attitude, and practice model; NICU: Neonatal intensive care unit; NASA: National aeronautics and space administration; SF-36: Short form health survey; VAS: Visual analog scale; KSS: Karolinska sleepiness scale; Db: Decibel.