Table 1 Inclusion and exclusion criteria

Participants

Studies targeting the public/patients’ use of antibiotics

Healthcare Professionals (HCPs) who are responsible for prescribing, dispensing, or administering antibiotics (doctors, pharmacists)

Non-HCPs (patient family or community or nursing or long-term care patients)

Intervention

Studies describe an intervention to improve antibiotic prescribing or AMS or any other intervention as the use of the parenteral-to-oral switch and the duration of IV and oral antibiotics

Studies that do not describe an AMS intervention

Comparison

Comparison with a control group/a group that carried out usual care without an AMS intervention; comparison between two or more AMS interventions

Context

Interventions carried out in adult inpatient settings in acute care hospitals

Interventions carried out in nursing homes, care homes or long-term healthcare facilities; community settings; paediatric setting/hospital; and animals/ veterinary practice

Outcomes

Primary outcomes: reviewing the AMS implementation before and during the COVID-19 pandemic

Secondary outcomes: other AMS measures, metrics, and quality improvement before and during the COVID-19 pandemic

Study design

Randomized Controlled Trials (RCTs), non-randomized trials, Controlled Before-After (CBA) studies, interrupted time series designs, case–control and cohort studies, cross-sectional studies, and qualitative studies

Literature reviews, systematic reviews, meta-analyses, single case studies, case reports, and conference abstracts