Item Description | Location (or reason for not reporting) | |
Title and Abstract | ||
1. Title | Indicate that the manuscript concerns an initiative to improve healthcare (broadly defined to include the quality, safety, effectiveness, patient-centredness, timeliness, cost, efficiency and equity of healthcare). | |
2. Abstract | 2a. Provide adequate information to aid in searching and indexing. 2b. Summarise all key information from various sections of the text using the abstract format of the intended publication or a structured summary such as: background, local problem, methods, interventions, results, conclusions. |
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Introduction | ||
3 & 4. Problem description & Available Knowledge |
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5. Rationale | Informal or formal frameworks, models, concepts, and/or theories used to explain the problem, any reasons or assumptions that were used to develop the intervention(s), and reasons why the intervention(s) was expected to work. | |
6. Specific aims | Purpose of the project and of this report. | |
Methods | ||
7. Context | Contextual elements considered important at the outset of introducing the intervention(s). | |
8. Intervention(s) |
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9. Study of the Intervention(s) |
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10. Measures |
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11. Analysis |
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12. Ethical considerations | Ethical aspects of implementing and studying the intervention(s) and how they were addressed, including, but not limited to, formal ethics review and potential conflict(s) of interest. | |
Results | ||
13 a & b. Evolution of the intervention and details of process measures | 13a. Initial steps of the intervention(s) and their evolution over time (e.g., time-line diagram, flow chart, or table), including modifications made to the intervention during the project. 13b. Details of the process measures and outcome. |
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13 c, d & e Contextual elements and unexpected consequences | 13c. Contextual elements that interacted with the interventions 13d. Observed associations between outcomes, interventions and relevant contextual factors 13e. Unintended consequences such as benefits, harms, unexpected results, problems or failures associated with the intervention(s) |
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13 e. Missing data | 13e. Details about missing data. | |
Discussion | ||
14. Summary | 14a. Key findings, including relevance to the rationale and specific aims 14b. Particular strengths of the project |
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15. Interpretation | 15a. Nature of the association between the intervention(s) and the outcomes 15b. Comparison of results with findings from other publications 15c. Impact of the project on people and systems 15d. Reasons for any differences between observed and anticipated outcomes, including the influence of context 15e. Costs and strategic trade-offs, including opportunity costs |
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16. Limitations | 16a. Limits to the generalisability of the work. 16b. Factors that might have limited internal validity such as confounding, bias, or imprecision in the design, methods, measurement, or analysis. 16c. Efforts made to minimise and adjust for limitations. |
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17. Conclusion | 17a. Usefulness of the work 17b. Sustainability 17c. Potential for spread to other contexts 17d. Implications for practice and for further study in the field 17e. Suggested next steps |
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Other information | ||
18. Funding | Sources of funding that supported this work. Role, if any, of the funding organisation in the design, implementation, interpretation and reporting. |
If you have not used a reporting guideline before, read about how and why to use them and check whether SQUIRE is the most applicable reporting guideline for your work.
Reporting guidelines are most useful when used early in research. When writing a manuscript or application, consider using the Full Guidance where you’ll see explanations and examples for each item.
After writing, demonstrate adherence by completing this checklist:
1 How to specify where content is
Tell the reader where they can find information. E.g.,
- Results; paragraph 2
- Methods, Participants; paragraphs 1 & 2.
- Table 3
- Supplement B, para. 4
If you have chosen not to describe an item, explain why. You can do this in the checklist, or as a note below it.
You can describe items in the article body, or in tables, figures, or supplementary materials, and should prioritize items you feel are most important to your intended audience. The order of items in your manuscript does not need to match the order of items in this checklist. You can decide how best to structure your work.
2 How to cite
Describe how you used SQUIRE at the end of your Methods section, referencing the resources you used e.g.,
‘We used the SQUIRE reporting guideline(1) to draft this manuscript, and the SQUIRE reporting checklist(2) when editing, included in supplement A’
If you use a reporting checklist, remember to include it as a supplement when publishing so that readers can easily find information and see how you have interpreted the guidance.