Clinical Performance Measures for Neurocritical Care: A Statement for Healthcare Professionals from the Neurocritical Care Society

Background: Performance measures are tools to measure the quality of clinical care. To date, there is no organized set of performance measures for neurocritical care. Methods: The Neurocritical Care Society convened a multidisciplinary writing committee to develop performance measures relevant to neurocritical care delivery in the inpatient setting. A formal methodology was used that included systematic review of the medical literature for 13 major neurocritical care conditions, extraction of high-level recommendations from clinical practice guidelines, and development of a measurement specification form. Results: A total of 50,257 citations were reviewed of which 150 contained strong recommendations deemed suitable for consideration as neurocritical care performance measures. Twenty-one measures were developed across nine different conditions and two neurocritical care processes of care. Conclusions: This is the first organized Neurocritical Care Performance Measure Set. Next steps should focus on field testing to refine measure criteria and assess implementation.