Defining Benchmarks in Pediatric Burn Care: Inception of the Pediatric Injury Quality Improvement Collaborative

Area of Science:

• Pediatric Surgery
• Quality Improvement Science
• Healthcare Management

Background:

• Pediatric burn care quality varies significantly across the nation.
• There is a critical need for standardized quality and performance benchmarks in pediatric burn centers.
• A collaborative approach is essential for driving performance improvement initiatives.

Purpose of the Study:

• To establish a network of pediatric burn centers for developing and evaluating pediatric-specific best practices.
• To create standardized quality and performance benchmarks for pediatric burn care.
• To improve aggregate and institution-specific pediatric burn care outcomes.

Main Methods:

• Formation of the Pediatric Injury Quality Improvement Collaborative (PIQIC) in December 2016.
• Establishment of a multi-disciplinary team from five pediatric burn centers.
• Development of quality improvement indicators, data sharing agreements, and a centralized data repository for blinded benchmarking.

Main Results:

• Demonstrated feasibility of multi-institutional data collection and implementation of performance improvement metrics.
• Facilitated the publication of research and enhancement of pediatric burn care.
• Enabled benchmarking and exchange of best care practices among participating centers.

Conclusions:

• The PIQIC model is effective for multi-institutional collaboration in pediatric burn care.
• Standardized data collection and benchmarking can significantly improve the quality of pediatric burn care.
• Continued collaboration is vital for advancing best practices and outcomes in pediatric burn treatment.