Reporting and design elements of audit and feedback interventions: a secondary review.
BACKGROUND
Audit and feedback (A&F) is a frequently used intervention aiming to support implementation of research evidence into clinical practice with positive, yet variable, effects. Our understanding of effective A&F has been limited by poor reporting and intervention heterogeneity. Our objective was to describe the extent of these issues.


METHODS
Using a secondary review of A&F interventions and a consensus-based process to identify modifiable A&F elements, we examined intervention descriptions in 140 trials of A&F to quantify reporting limitations and describe the interventions.


RESULTS
We identified 17 modifiable A&F intervention elements; 14 were examined to quantify reporting limitations and all 17 were used to describe the interventions. Clear reporting of the elements ranged from 56% to 97% with a median of 89%. There was considerable variation in A&F interventions with 51% for individual providers only, 92% targeting behaviour change and 79% targeting processes of care, 64% performed by the provider group and 81% reporting aggregate patient data.


CONCLUSIONS
Our process identified 17 A&F design elements, demonstrated gaps in reporting and helped understand the degree of variation in A&F interventions.
['Colquhoun|Heather|H|', 'Michie|Susan|S|', 'Sales|Anne|A|', 'Ivers|Noah|N|', 'Grimshaw|J M|JM|', 'Carroll|Kelly|K|', 'Chalifoux|Mathieu|M|', 'Eva|Kevin|K|', 'Brehaut|Jamie|J|']
D005246:Feedback D006801:Humans D008485:Medical Audit D015397:Program Evaluation D058996:Quality Improvement D011787:Quality of Health Care
Audit and feedback Evidence-based medicine Healthcare quality improvement Implementation science