Bundling Your Way to Quality Care

A bundle is defined by IHI as a small set of evidence-based interventions for a defined patient segment/population and care setting that, when implemented together, will result in significantly better outcomes than when implemented individually. It is important to understand that a bundle is not simply a checklist to complete, it is a set of researched interventions that have been shown to work better when completed together. These interventions are usually already well known and utilized in practice by nurses or providers. A bundle places the priority on the entire set of interventions being completed for the at-risk patient.

The focus of this paper is to explain the principles of a bundle, the evidence supporting their utilization in practice, challenges associated with care bundles, how to overcome these challenges, and recommendations for future success.

A literature search on the implementation of bundles demonstrates several challenges to their use. Sustaining a comprehensive quality improvement approach within an institution can be challenging but with the guidelines outlined by IHI for requirements of a bundle and the implementation recommendations, great success can be obtained.