Collaborative working empowers staff to cut the number of cardiac arrests

At Salford Royal Foundation Trust, 179 patients suffered a cardiac arrest between March 2007 and April 2008. MAINE MEASURES FOR MPROVEMENT: Our primary outcome measure was the number of cardiac arrests per 1,000 admissions.

Eleven wards were invited to participate in a Breakthrough Series collaborative from April 2008 to January 2009. It is a short term (6-15 months) learning system thatbrings together several teams to s eekimprovement, focusing on one topic. Frontline teams worked to develop changes in their clinical areas with the aim of reducing cardiac arrests by 50% in one year.

April-December 2008 saw a reduction of 32% in the cardiac arrest rate, resulting in an average arrest rate of 0.79 per 1,000 admissions. Since the project began to upscale its work in January 2009, a further reduction has been noted. However,another 4 months' data is required to assess whether this equates to a sustained change.

Preliminary data suggests that a Breakthrough Series collaborative is an effective method of engaging frontline staff in developing and implementing change, with improvements in patient care.