BMJ quality & safety
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BMJ quality & safety · Jul 2015
ReviewTeamwork, communication and safety climate: a systematic review of interventions to improve surgical culture.
To define the target domains of culture-improvement interventions, to assess the impact of these interventions on surgical culture and to determine whether culture improvements lead to better patient outcomes and improved healthcare efficiency. ⋯ The literature provides promising evidence for various strategies to improve surgical culture, although these approaches differ in terms of the interventions employed as well as the techniques used to measure culture. Nevertheless, culture improvement appears to be associated with other positive effects, including better patient outcomes and enhanced healthcare efficiency.
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BMJ quality & safety · Jul 2015
The association of hospital prevention processes and patient risk factors with the risk of Clostridium difficile infection: a population-based cohort study.
Clostridium difficile is the most common cause of healthcare-acquired infection; the real-world impacts of some proposed C. difficile prevention processes are unknown. ⋯ In the largest study to date, selected hospital prevention strategies were not associated with a statistically significant reduction in patients' risk of C. difficile infection. These prevention strategies have either limited effectiveness or were ineffectively implemented during the study period.
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BMJ quality & safety · Jun 2015
Review Comparative StudyThe effect of the SQUIRE (Standards of QUality Improvement Reporting Excellence) guidelines on reporting standards in the quality improvement literature: a before-and-after study.
The SQUIRE (Standards of QUality Improvement Reporting Excellence) guidelines were developed to improve the reporting of quality improvement (QI) projects. The effect of the guidelines on the completeness of reporting in the QI literature is unknown. ⋯ There was no overall improvement observed in the completeness of reporting of QI projects after the publication of the SQUIRE guidelines, and the study was stopped early. There is potential for improvement in reporting standards, particularly for those guideline items or statements specific to QI projects.
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BMJ quality & safety · Jun 2015
Comparative StudyA qualitative study of the variable effects of audit and feedback in the ICU.
Audit and feedback is integral to performance improvement and behaviour change in the intensive care unit (ICU). However, there remain large gaps in our understanding of the social experience of audit and feedback and the mechanisms whereby it can be optimised as a quality improvement strategy in the ICU setting. ⋯ ICU clinicians experience audit and feedback as fragmented communication with feedback being especially problematic. Attention to improving communication, integration of the process into daily clinical activities and making feedback timely, specific and actionable may increase the effectiveness of audit and feedback to affect desired change.