Research Project

Collaborative Efforts to Improve Care in Intensive Care Units (Michigan*)

Project Description: 
This statewide improvement effort was designed to improve patient safety; improve safety culture; as well as reduce mortality, blood stream infections, aspiration pneumonia and length of stay in intensive care units. To accomplish this, we partnered with the Michigan Hospital Association's (MHA) Keystone Center for Patient Safety to implement a safety program and other interventions in a cohort of hospitals. To achieve these goals, Johns Hopkins researchers will develop interventions and train teams for MHA-Keystone, who in turn will interact with Michigan hospitals to implement these interventions and collect data. Hospitals must commit a team--including a senior executive (vice-president or above), an ICU director or ICU physician, ICU nurse or nurse manager, and a department administrator--to collecting required data and attending 2 meetings and 2 conference calls/year. All teams will work on specific aim 1 and then choose one of the other specific aims every 6 months. By the end of the two year project, each team will have implemented all 5 specific aims and able to coach each other.

Specific Aims:

1. To implement and evaluate the impact of the Comprehensive Unit-based Safety Program (CUSP) that includes the ICU safety reporting system (ICUSRS) in a cohort of hospitals.
2. To implement and evaluate the effect of an intervention to improve communication and staffing in ICUs.
3. To implement and evaluate the effect of an intervention to reduce or eliminate catheter related blood stream infections in ICUs.
4. To implement and evaluate the effect of an intervention to improve the care of ventilated patients in ICUs.
5. To implement and evaluate an intervention to reduce ICU mortality.

*The MHA-Keystone Center for Patient Safety were the pioneers in this collaborative statewide effort. Since implementation the following hospitals have implemented this project:

COLLABORATIVE GROUP	IMPLEMENTATION DATE
State of Michigan*	September 3, 2003
State of New Jersey	May 1, 2004
Johns Hopkins	May 1, 2005