Quality Improvement Initiatives in Sepsis in an Emerging Country: Does the Institution's Main Source of Income...

We aimed to assess the results of a quality improvement initiative in sepsis in an emerging setting and to analyze it according to the institutions' main source of income (public or private).

Retrospective analysis of the Latin American Sepsis Institute database from 2005 to 2014.

Brazilian public and private institutions.

Patients with sepsis admitted in the participant institutions.

The quality improvement initiative was based on a multifaceted intervention. The institutions were instructed to collect data on 6-hour bundle compliance and outcomes in patients with sepsis in all hospital settings. Outcomes and compliance was measured for eight periods of 6 months each, starting at the time of the enrollment in the intervention. The primary outcomes were hospital mortality and compliance with 6-hour bundle.

We included 21,103 patients; 9,032 from public institutions and 12,071 from private institutions. Comparing the first period with the eigth period, compliance with the 6-hour bundle increased from 13.5% to 58.2% in the private institutions (p < 0.0001) and from 7.4% to 15.7% in the public institutions (p < 0.0001). Mortality rates significantly decreased throughout the program in private institutions, from 47.6% to 27.2% in the eighth period (adjusted odds ratio, 0.45; 95% CI, 0.32-0.64). However, in the public hospitals, mortality diminished significantly only in the first two periods.

This quality improvement initiative in sepsis in an emerging country was associated with a reduction in mortality and with improved compliance with quality indicators. However, this reduction was sustained only in private institutions.