Table 1

Study characteristics

Study	Type of ward	Hospital	Setting pre-intervention	Setting post-intervention	Other points of interest	Observation period
Paoletti et al⁹	Cardiac (telemetry)Medical-surgical	20-bed cardiac ward 36-bed medicalSurgical ward in a general hospital, Lancaster, USA	Decentralised cabinet distribution systemHandwritten orderHandwritten paper MAR	Decentralised cabinet distribution systemHandwritten ordereMAR with pharmacist order entryBCMA	1.5 year surveillance data	ND
Poon et al¹⁰	ICUMedicalSurgical	35 units in a 735-bed tertiary academic medical centre, Boston, USA	CPOEMAR transcribed by nurses	CPOEeMARBCMA	Transcription errorsSeverity classification of potential ADEs2 year surveillance data (in supplement)	2–4 weeks before and 4–8 weeks afterwards. 4 h observation of staff nurses on 35 observed units
Franklin et al¹¹	Surgical	28-bed ward in a teaching hospital, London, UK	Stock cupboards and two drug trolleysDrug prescription on paper MAR	ADC and two electronic drug trolleysCPOE bar code scan used to confirm drug identity when loading medication into drawer ADC and for patient identificationeMAR with manual confirmation of administration	Prescribing errorsStaff time spent on medication tasksPotential severity assessment of observed errors	3–6 months before and 6–12 months after.Sample of 56 drug rounds before and 55 after (including nights and weekends) during a 2-week period
Helmons et al¹²	ICU (medical-surgical)Medical-surgical	13- and 20-bedICU22-, 26-bed medical surgical ward in a 386-bed academic teaching hospital, San Diego, USA	Unit-based ADCsCPOEPrinted paper MAR manually updated	Unit-based ADCsCPOEeMARBCMA	Medication administration accuracyTime spent on medication tasks	1 month before and 3 months after implementation. During week and weekend days focus on medication round 09:00
DeYoung et al¹³	ICU	38-bed medical ICU in a 744-bed community teaching hospital, Grand Rapids, USA	ND	Handwritten or preprinted orders eMAR with pharmacist order entryBCMA	–	1 month before and 4 months after. 24 h a day during 4 days
Morris¹⁴	NICU	36-bed ward in a children's hospital, Iowa City, USA	Handwritten orders entered by pharmacist in pharmacy information systemPaper MAR on which orders were transcribed and administrations recorded	Handwritten orders entered by pharmacist in pharmacy information systemeMAR bidirectionally interfaced with pharmacy information systemBCMA	Severity assessment of observed preventable ADEs	19 consecutive weeks before implementation and 1 month after implementation during 31 weeks
Ros et al, ²⁰ Wesselink et al ²¹	Neurological	42-bed ward, community teaching hospital, Apeldoorn, The Netherlands	Dispensing to the ward from pharmacy by drug trolleyCPOEeMAR with manual confirmation of administration	BAP cartCPOEeMARBCMA	Time spent on medication tasks	1 year and 8 months before and 3 months after. Three daily medication rounds during 21 days

ADC, automated dispending cabinet; ADE, adverse drug events; BAP, bedside assortment picking; BCMA, bar code-assisted medication administration; CPOE, computerised physician order entry; eMAR, electronic medication administration record; ICU, intensive care unit; MAR, medication administration record; ND, not determined.