Multidisciplinary achievement: the collaborative approach to rapid cycle ICU and hospital change

Multidisciplinary teams are different from the traditional team format in that representation and participation from various disciplines characterize the structure. In April 1996, a multidisciplinary group from Muhlenberg Regional Medical Center's intensive care unit learned methodology at the Institute for Health Care Improvement (IHI) Breakthrough Series in Adult Intensive Care. With the format learned, improvements in diverse areas such as ventilator management, intermediate care, clinical laboratory utilization, and others were accomplished. Continued support from an expert staff and utilization of on-line communication tools characterized this 15-month quality improvement endeavor. The end of the breakthrough series spurred the development of a hospital-wide collaborative cost containment team.