• Abhijit V Lele, Quality Committee of the Neurocritical Care Society, and Asma M Moheet.
• Neurocritical Care Service, Departments of Anesthesiology, Pain Medicine and Neurological Surgery, Harborview Medical Center, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA. abhijit2@uw.edu.
• Neurocrit Care. 2020 Feb 1; 32 (1): 295-301.

BackgroundTo describe current state of quality improvement (QI) processes implemented in neurocritical care units (NCCU).MethodsA 27-question-survey was sent to 2000 members (physicians, nurses, and pharmacists) of the Neurocritical Care Society. We describe the prevalence of QI, satisfaction with existing QI processes, barriers to NCCU QI, awareness of stroke (STK, CSTK), stroke get with the guidelines (GWTG), trauma quality improvement program (TQIP) and American Academy of Neurology (AAN) performance measures.ResultsThe response rate was 22.5%; 73.7% of respondents were from US teaching hospitals, 87.9% practiced in dedicated neurocritical care units, and 43.4% in a program with a NCC fellowship. 44.6 % reported a dedicated NCCU QI program. Overall, 42% of the respondents reported satisfaction with existing NCCU QI processes. External ventricular drain infection was the most commonly tracked NCC QI metric (69.6%). Respondents indicated the highest level of awareness for CSTK (87.5%), STK (81.8%), and GWTG (81.8%), but indicated a relative lack of awareness for TQIP (42.7%), and AAN (46.2%) performance measures. Insufficient hospital (57.7%) and departmental support (36.5%) were reported common barriers to the successful implementation of an NCCU QI program.ConclusionA dedicated staffed NCCU QI program occurs in a minority of NCC units, and the lack of such programs may lead to clinician dissatisfaction. Institutional and departmental support may be critical elements of a successful and satisfactory implementation of NCCU QI.

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