This secondary analysis of data from a repository of surgical outcome data compared hospitals that participate in a benchmarking program, hospitals that participate in benchmarking and collaborative quality improvement, and hospitals that do not participate in either program. After adjusting for patient factors and ongoing improvement over time, investigators found that hospitals participating in benchmarking and collaborative improvement had the lowest in-hospital mortality. The authors conclude that quality improvement collaboratives can enhance patient safety.

A multifaceted program designed to optimize care of trauma patients resulted in a sustained improvement in trauma mortality over a 5-year period in this single-institution study. Part of the intervention included successful efforts to reduce health care–associated infections.