Although the evaluation of a single intensive care unit (ICU) over time can produce insightful results, self-reflection can lead to excessive optimism or criticism. Benchmarking against other ICUs can provide ICU staff and hospital managers with a broader view and clearer perspectives of targets for improvement. This approach is now used among hospital networks as well as in national registries providing both open and blinded comparisons. Direct comparisons of mortality among institutions (using funnel plots) and indirect comparisons against a risk-adjustment model have proven useful to identify targets for quality improvement.

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