The proposed scoping review will aim on providing a comprehensive picture of IDMT by identifying and mapping the available information. The scoping review will be conducted in accordance with the JBI methodology for scoping reviews (5, 6) and the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses extension for scoping review (PRISMA-ScR) (10). A populated checklist for scoping review protocols recommended by Peters et al (5) are available in Additional file 1.
Search strategy
The search strategy will aim to locate both published and unpublished studies. A three-step search strategy will be utilized in this review. First, an initial limited search of EMBASE and EBSCO across the databases has been undertaken to identify articles on this topic, followed by analysis of the text words contained in the titles and abstracts, and of the index terms used to describe these articles. This will inform the development of a search strategy including identified keywords and index terms, which will be tailored for each database. The bibliographic databases will be systematically searched using block search with the Boolean operators AND, OR, NOT. A preliminary search strategy for EMBASE is detailed in Additional file 2.
We will search the databases: EMBASE, PubMed, CINAHL, Academic Search Premier and SCOPUS.
Unpublished studies from 1985 to present date will be searched in OpenGrey and Google Scholar.
Ongoing studies will be searched in the databases: NHS Research Register, Clinicaltrials.gov and OSF Registries for the last five years.
To ensure literature saturation, reference lists of included articles will be manually screened to identify additional studies. A systematic citation search will be performed in order to collect all articles that cite the original papers.
Studies published from 1985 to present date will be included as the preliminary search revealed that the publication rate of literature concerning patient safety increased dramatically at this point.
Studies published in English, Norwegian, Swedish, and Danish will be included.
The bibliographic databases will be searched again toward the end of the review process to ensure that the most recent studies are included.
Inclusion criteria
Participants
The patients included will be adults and children seeking diagnostic care for a somatic condition.
We will exclude studies examining the diagnostic process of non-somatic conditions, e.g. psychiatric illness or dementia.
Concept
The concept examined by this scoping review consists of IDMT in relation to prevention of diagnostic errors and achieving diagnostic excellence. Studies of all aspects of the diagnostic process will be considered.
This scoping review will consider inclusion of studies that involve patients, relatives, doctors, biomedical laboratory scientists, nurses, radiographers, occupational therapists, physiotherapists, medical librarians, or information scientists in the IDMT.
Context
This scoping review will include studies of the diagnostic process in the healthcare system.
Studies examining the diagnostic process in psychiatry, odontology or complementary medicine will be excluded.
Types of sources
This scoping review will consider both experimental and quasi-experimental study designs including randomized controlled trials, non-randomized controlled trials, and before and after studies. In addition, analytical observational studies including prospective and retrospective cohort studies, case-control studies, and analytical cross-sectional studies will be considered for inclusion. This review will also consider descriptive observational study designs including case series and descriptive cross-sectional studies for inclusion.
Qualitative studies focusing on qualitative data including, but not limited to, designs such as phenomenology, grounded theory, ethnography, qualitative description, and action research will also be considered for the scoping review.
Text, opinion papers, websites, guidelines, policy documents and letters to editors will be identified and considered for inclusion by ultimo 2023/primo 2024; after the systematic literature process.
Study/Source of evidence selection
Citations, abstracts and full text articles retrieved through the literature search will be uploaded to Covidence, an Internet based bibliographic management software program operated by Veritas Health Innovation Ltd., Melbourne, Australia. Removal of duplicates and the screening process will be managed in Covidence based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria. In order to optimize and qualify the screening process, a calibration exercise for two authors (NLH & LNJ) will be undertaken prior to the screening.
The selection process will be performed in two steps: first, screening by titles and abstracts, and second, screening of full text of reports selected by the first step. Both steps will be performed according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria and done independently by two authors (NLH & LNJ). Reasons for exclusion will be recorded and reported in the scoping review. Any disagreements that arise between the reviewers at each stage of the selection process will be resolved through discussion, or with an additional reviewer or reviewers. The results of the search and the study inclusion process will be reported in full in the final scoping review and presented in a PRISMA-ScR flow diagram (6, 10).
Data extraction
The data extracted will include general information: title, authors, reference/source/year of publication, country, aim of study, setting, study design, sources of funding/competing interest; specific details about population, concept, context; study methods of significance to the review question; and specific objectives. A draft extraction form is provided (see Additional file 3). The draft data extraction tool will be modified and revised as necessary during the process of extracting data from each included evidence source. Modifications will be detailed in the scoping review.
Two authors (NLH & LNJ) will extract the data individually, followed by a comparison and validation of data. Any disagreements that arise between the reviewers will be resolved through discussion with the co-authors. If appropriate, authors of papers will be contacted to request missing or additional data, where required.
Data analysis and presentation
The extracted data will be presented in diagrammatic or tabular form in a manner that aligns to the objective and scope of this scoping review. The tables and charts will report distribution of studies by year or period of publication, countries of origin, area of practice, research methods, and results. A narrative summary will accompany the tabulated and/or charted results and will describe how the results relate to the review’s objective and questions.
Potential deviations from this protocol
Deviations from this protocol will be clearly mentioned in the review manuscript.