Table 1.

Participants, interventions, comparators, outcomes and study designs (PICOS) of observational studies (n=14)

ID	Reference	Study design	Aimed to determine	Country	Setting	Participants	n	Outcomes
71	Udezi et al 19	Cross-sectional survey	Medication information needs	Nigeria	Urban pharmacies; Enugu state capital	32 community and 26 hospital pharmacists	58	Sources of medication information
127	Anasi e t al 30	Cross-sectional survey	Use of the internet for professional practice	Nigeria	Community pharmacies	115 community pharmacists	115	Searching for drug and disease-related information
76	Wabe e t al 20	Cross-sectional survey	Knowledge, attitude and practice of patient counselling	Ethiopia	Drug retail outlets; urban	12 pharmacists, 43 ‘druggists’, 3 pharmacy technicians, 6 health assistants	64	Sources of medication information
113	Asmelashe Gelayee et al 21	Cross-sectional survey	Medication information needs and resources	Ethiopia	Community pharmacies/drug stores; Gondar town	48 community pharmacists	48	Sources of medication information
74	Usanga e t al 24	Cross-sectional survey	Information technology use and attitudes	Zimbabwe	Community pharmacies; Harare	46 community pharmacists	46	Facilities in pharmacies, use the internet
107	Kamuhabwa and Kisoma 22	Cross-sectional survey	Factors that influence prescribing	Tanzania	Public and private health facilities in Dar es Salaam	Medical specialists, medical officers, intern doctors	192	Sources of medication information
31	Rusatira et al 31	Online survey and interviews	User requirements, available resources and potential	Rwanda	All 44 district hospitals	97 surveyed doctors and 16 interviewed general practitioners	113	Internet access, frequency of use and sources
95	Graham e t al 29	Observation of consultations, focus groups, in-depth interviews	Adherence to guidelines, rational antibiotics use, adherence	Zambia	Districts of Luapula northern provinces	55 caregivers+90 community health workers	145	Use of aids
21	Samiak and Vince23	Semiqualitative cross-sectional survey	Use of the Paediatric Standard Treatment Book	Papua New Guinea	Urban clinics and rural health centres	61 nurses and 45 community health workers	106	Use of book and reasons for non-use
8	Agbo et al 25	Semistructured interviews	Knowledge and prescription patterns	Nigeria	Primary health centre in Jos North; urban	4 health personnel involved in the consultation and treatment of the patients and nurse in charge of drugstore	4	Availability and use of guidelines
126	Oduor e t al 26	Semistructured interviews	How and why providers and patients used technologies	Kenya	Health facility in Migori; rural	27 medical practitioners, 9 patients with HIV	36	Sources and technologies used to manage patients
41	Reynolds et al 27	Interviews	Perceptions on malaria diagnosis	Afghanistan	22 health centres; 10 north and 12 east	Doctors, nurses, medical assistants, one assistant doctor (or feldsher, an assistant physician trained under the Russian system) and one community health supervisor	39	Availability and use of guidelines
53	Perwaiz Iqbal and Rahman28	Focus groups	Perceptions on resistant tuberculosis diagnosis	Pakistan	Shifa College of Medicine, Islamabad	12 general practitioners	12	Availability and use of guidelines
49	Park et al 7	Focus groups	Information needs, perceptions of Wikipedia as a clinical tool	Botswana	Clinics, health posts within 10 km district hospitals; rural	113 health workers across district hospitals, clinics and health posts	113	Information needs and perceptions