Table 1.
Overview on data at the institutional level
| ICU of the referring hospital | Inter-hospital transporta | ICU of the participating hospital | Rehabilitation unit | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| General characteristics | ownership | ownership | ownership | |
| level of care | level of care | |||
| teaching status | teaching status | teaching status | ||
| specialization of the ICU | specialization of the ICU | specialization | ||
| member of the ARDS network | ||||
| transportation via air or via ground | ||||
| Structural quality | qualification of direction, physicians and nurses | qualification of physicians and paramedics | qualification of direction, physicians and nurses | qualification of physicians, therapists and nurses |
| 24 h-availability of physicians and nurses | 24 h-availability of physicians and nurses | 24 h-availability of physicians and nurses | ||
| physician/nurse-patient-ratio | physician/nurse-patient-ratio | physician/therapist/ nurse-patient-ratio |
||
| availability of equipment for diagnostic and therapeutical procedures | availability of equipment for diagnostic and therapeutical procedures | availability of equipment for diagnostic and therapeutical procedures | availability of equipment for diagnostic and therapeutical procedures | |
| Process quality | daily multiprofessional ward rounds with documentation of daily therapy goals | communication between physicians responsible for referral, transportation and admission | daily multiprofessional ward rounds with documentation of daily therapy goals | adoption of institutional and disesase-specific nursing and care concepts |
| monitoring of sedation, analgesia and delirium | monitoring of sedation, analgesia and delirium | use of a nursing documentation system | ||
| lung protective ventilation | lung protective ventilation | implementation of treatment pathways | ||
| daily spontaneous breathing trials | daily spontaneous breathing trials | internal quality management | ||
| documentation of structured caregiver-communication | documentation of structured caregiver-communication | documentation of patient-related therapy goals | ||
| hand disinfection consumption | hand disinfection consumption | |||
| implementation of treatment pathways in accordance with up-to-date recommen-dations (e.g. early enteral nutrition, non-invasive ventilation) | implementation of treatment pathways in accordance with up-to-date recommen-dations (e.g. early enteral nutrition, non-invasive ventilation) | |||
| Volume | number of patients per year | number of patients per year | number of patients per year | |
| number of ventilated patients per year | number of ventilated patients per year | number of ventilated patients per year | ||
| number of patients died within 24 h per year | number of patients died within 24 h per year |
Notes: aData on inter-hospital transport is assessed at the individual patient level; however, it refers to the institutional level as it represents characteristics of quality of health care. bold: variables of main interest