A group of hospitals in the US managed to reduce surgical complications by 10% after agreeing to share information on patient safety, according to a study published in the Archives of Surgery.
Sixteen Michigan hospitals, led by the University of Michigan Health System entered into a partnership called Michigan Surgical Quality Collaborative, in which the hospitals agreed to share information about what keeps patients safe.
The partnership was supported by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan and its Blue Care Network, which paid the hospitals to participate and covered the cost of technology required to analyse the data.
The study examined general and vascular surgeries, both scheduled and emergency, between 2005 and 2007.
The greatest reductions in complications were observed in blood infections, septic shock, prolonged ventilator use and cardiac arrest, although death rates remained the same.
Study author Darrell A Campbell Jr said the collaboration of hospitals in terms of identifying and disseminating information about best practices is a much more effective way of improving quality than hospitals acting alone.
“If this system was adopted nationally, not just in Michigan, I think you would find a greatly accelerated pace of surgical quality improvement,” Campbell added.
