Bringing quality improvement into the intensive care unit.

Area of Science:

• Medicine
• Healthcare Quality
• Critical Care

Background:

• Growing emphasis on quality improvement in medicine, especially critical care.
• Development of quality standards by various organizations.

Purpose of the Study:

• Review quality improvement approaches in intensive care units (ICUs).
• Examine measures like mortality, length of stay, protocols, and collaboratives.

Main Methods:

• Review of quality improvement strategies in ICUs.
• Analysis of data on mortality, length of stay, and infection rates.
• Evaluation of care bundles and collaborative projects.

Main Results:

• Implementation of standards like ICU core measures.
• Significant reduction in catheter-related bloodstream infections using care bundles.
• Effectiveness of large, multi-center quality improvement collaboratives.

Conclusions:

• Quality improvement significantly impacts critical care units.
• Electronic medical records will further facilitate quality improvements.