Table 2.
Characteristics of included articles
| Characteristic | All studies, n (%) (N = 314) |
|---|---|
| Type of study | |
| Primary research | |
| Cohort studies | 118 (37.6) |
| Qualitative study | 51 (16.2) |
| Interventional (non-RCT) | 39 (12.4) |
| Cross-sectional | 28 (8.9) |
| Systematic and scoping reviewsa | 11 (3.5) |
| Randomized controlled trial | 8 (2.6) |
| Mixed methods | 8 (2.6) |
| Case study or series | 6 (1.9) |
| Secondary research | |
| Literature and narrative reviews | 23 (7.3) |
| Descriptive studies | 7 (2.2) |
| Guidelines | 6 (1.9) |
| Delphi methodology and consensus statements | 5 (1.6) |
| Opinion | 4 (1.3) |
| Continent of Origin | |
| North America | 135 (43.0) |
| Europe | 80 (25.5) |
| Asia | 35 (11.2) |
| Oceania | 23 (7.3) |
| Various (multiple) continents | 16 (5.1) |
| South America | 10 (3.2) |
| Africa | 1 (0.3) |
| Not reported | 14 (4.5) |
| Language | |
| Published in English | 304 (96.8) |
| Non-English language publication | 10 (3.2) |
| Year of publication | |
| 2012–2015b | 98 (31.2) |
| 2016–2018 | 110 (35.0) |
| 2019–2021 | 106 (33.8) |
| Study populationc | |
| Adult | 162 (51.6) |
| Pediatric | 34 (10.8) |
| Neonatal | 97 (30.9) |
| Not reported | 31 (9.9) |
| Type of ICUa | |
| Medical | 79 (25.2) |
| Surgical | 73 (23.3) |
| General system | 30 (9.6) |
| Cardiac | 23 (7.3) |
| Neurological | 21 (6.7) |
| Trauma | 19 (6.1) |
| Oncologic | 8 (2.6) |
| Burn | 4 (1.3) |
| Mixed (with sub-types not specified) | 2 (0.6) |
| Not reported | 80 (25.5) |
ICU intensive care unit, RCT randomized controlled trial
aIncludes integrative reviews
bWhile the search was restricted to 2013, late indexing brought forward articles with an official publishing date of 2013
cReponses are not mutually exclusive and add up to more than 100%