Collaborative cohort study of an intervention to reduce ventilator-associated pneumonia in the intensive care unit.
The landmark Keystone ICU project, a statewide quality improvement initiative that used interventions grounded in safety culture and human factors engineering to improve safety in the intensive care unit, stands as one of the seminal achievements of the patient safety field. The success of the Keystone ICU project at reducing central line–associated bloodstream infections has been widely publicized, and this study reports a similar success in reducing rates of ventilator-associated pneumonia. As with the prior results, this article emphasizes that the success of the study was attributable to the multifaceted quality improvement approach used and the cultural change it engendered in participating ICUs.