Table 2.
Characteristics of the 28 studies reporting effects of nursing DSSs
| Characteristic | Studies |
|---|---|
| Study design | |
| Quasi-experimental | 18 (64) |
| Randomized controlled trial | 6 (21) |
| Descriptive | 3 (11) |
| Observational | 1 (4) |
| Year of publication | |
| 2014 | 3 (11) |
| 2015 | 5 (18) |
| 2016 | 7 (25) |
| 2017 | 2 (7) |
| 2018 | 7 (25) |
| 2019 | 3 (11) |
| 2020 (until March) | 1 (4) |
| DSS users | |
| Registered nurses | 24 (86) |
| Nurse practitioners | 3 (11) |
| Nurses and midwives | 1 (4) |
| Setting | |
| Short-term-care units | 19 (68) |
| Emergency or urgent care | 8 (29) |
| Inpatient wards | 4 (14) |
| Outpatient clinics | 3 (11) |
| Critical care units | 2 (7) |
| Ambulance | 1 (4) |
| Remote consultation | 1 (4) |
| Long-term-care units | 8 (29) |
| Nursing homes | 3 (11) |
| Home health care | 3 (11) |
| Community | 2 (7) |
| Both | 1 (4) |
| Nursing care process | |
| Assessment | 23 (82) |
| Problem identification | 19 (68) |
| Planning | 17 (61) |
| Intervention | 24 (86) |
| Evaluation | 3 (11) |
| Automated functions | |
| Information acquisition | 5 (18) |
| Information analysis | 28 (100) |
| Decision selection | 28 (100) |
| Action implementation | 1 (4) |
Values are n (%).
dSS: decision support system.
a
Categories are not mutually exclusive (ie, DSSs may have target multiple nursing care process steps and stages of automation).