Increasing the Effectiveness and Understanding of Audit and Feedback Interventions in Intensive Care: Protocol for a Mixed-methods Study

This study evaluates the addition of a quality improvement toolbox to an online audit and feedback intervention in Dutch intensive care units. The toolbox comprises for each quality indicator (e.g., percentage of patients per shift whose pain is measured) a list of potential bottlenecks in the care process (e.g., staff is unaware of the prevailing guidelines for measuring pain every shift), associated recommendations for actions to solve mentioned bottlenecks (e.g., organize an educational training session), and supporting materials to facilitate implementation of the actions (e.g., a slide show presentation discussing the importance and relevance of measuring pain every shift). Half of the participating intensive care units will only receive online feedback, while the other half will additionally gain access to the integrated toolbox to facilitate planning and executing actions.