Quality improvement collaboratives (QICs) are multi-center networks that aim to enhance clinical care and outcomes for patients. These QICs function as “learning health systems” providing an infrastructure for shared learning and improvement. Notably, over 9 of 14 pediatric subspecialties1 have established collaborative network improvement efforts. These pediatric networks serve to close the quality gap and act as incubators for accelerated translation of evidence into practice.1

QICs provide the framework for multiple teams or sites in a network to focus on high-impact topics or conditions. These multi-site clinical networks foster team learning and promote use of collective data and experiences to implement and spread effective interventions in clinical practice. Together teams improve outcomes with support from clinical content and quality improvement (QI) experts. Key components of successful QICs include a shared mission with multidisciplinary collaboration, robust data registries, multidisciplinary participation, identification of best practices, and an infrastructure to apply improvement science and disseminate learnings and results.

QICs have been shown to improve patient outcomes in pediatrics. For example, the Children’s Hospital Association’s “Improving Pediatric Sepsis Outcomes” (IPSO) collaborative, spanning over 66 children’s hospitals, used evidence-based sepsis care bundles, and data to decrease mortality.2,3 The Pediatric Cardiac Critical Care Consortium (PC4), involving 31 hospitals and 15 cardiac intensive care units, implemented a cardiac arrest prevention bundle that led to a 30 % reduction in risk-adjusted in-hospital cardiac arrest incidence rates across 15 hospitals, with no change in control hospitals.4 Another analysis showed that participation in the Children’s Hospitals’ Solutions for Patient Safety, a QIC dedicated to eliminating preventable harm, was associated with a significant improvement in three of eight harms after adjusting for secular trends.5 Neonatal-specific QICs have also been developed and have played a critical role in advancing patient outcomes and safety for over 40 years. In this review, we provide an overview of the history, the development of standards, frameworks for QICs, and neonatal QICs’ specific costs and opportunities.