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.