Table 1.

Quality assessment of the included studies^a

Study/Year	Study type	Modified Downs/Black score	Quality problems
Schmidt 2017	RCTb; Interrupted time series analyses	8/13	Unclear whether investigators and statisticians were blinded to the intervention group during analyses. Unclear whether randomization allocation was concealed from providers. Lack of comprehensive set of adjustment variables such as severity of illness, etc.
Chien et al. 201718	RCTb	10/13	Unclear whether investigators and statisticians were blinded to the intervention group during analyses. Unclear whether randomization allocation was concealed from the providers.
Sedrak et al. 201721	RCTb	12/13	Lack of randomization at the level of clinician in the study design. However, this was not pursued to prevent contamination between groups
Conway et al. 201719	Retrospective; Interrupted time-series	8/13	Retrospective and non-randomized design, Lack of comprehensive set of adjustment variables such as severity of illness, etc.
Chien 201720	RCTb	10/13	Unclear whether investigators and statisticians were blinded to the intervention group during analyses. Unclear whether randomization allocation was concealed from the providers
Fang et al. 201417	Prospective comparative	6/13	Non-randomized design. Interrupted time series design not employed. Analyses done between two groups recruited over differing periods of time. Control cohort differs from intervention cohort in baseline characteristics.
Durand et al. 201316	RCTb	8/13	Unclear whether investigators and statisticians were blinded to the intervention group during analyses. Lack of comprehensive set of adjustment variables such as severity of illness etc. Lack of randomization at the level of clinician in the study design. However, this was not pursued to prevent contamination between groups
Feldman et al. 201315	RCTb	10/13	Unclear whether investigators and statisticians were blinded to the intervention group during analyses. Lack of comprehensive set of adjustment variables such as severity of illness, etc. Lack of randomization at the level of clinician in the study design. However, this was not pursued to prevent contamination between groups
Horn 201414	Interrupted time series with a control group	6/13	Non- randomized design. Significant baseline differences in characteristics of patients seen by the intervention and control group of providers. This was not controlled for. Chronic disease burden in the two groups was not mentioned
Ornstein et al. 199913	Controlled clinical trial	7/13	Non- randomized design. No concurrent control (historical control was used). Lack of estimation of chronic illness burden in the intervention and control periods.
Bates et al. 199712	RCTb	11/13	Unclear whether investigators and statisticians were blinded to the intervention group during analyses
Vedsted et al. 199711	Controlled trial	8/13	Non-randomized design. Unclear whether investigators and statisticians were blinded to the intervention group during analyses. Lack of comprehensive multifactorial analyses
Tierney et al. 199010	RCTb	10/13	Lack of comprehensive multifactorial analyses. Intervention period coincided with the period of arrival of new trainees and this was not controlled for in the analyses

^aBlinding study subjects (providers) to the intervention was not possible in any study due to the nature of intervention.

^bRandomized controlled trial.