Assessing the suitability of intervention sites for quality improvement studies in emergency departments

Objectives: As an initial step in disseminating an emer-gency department (ED)-based quality improvement pro-gram (QIP) to improve antibiotic prescribing for patients with acute respiratory infections, the authors conducted a nationwide survey to assess the value and feasibility of the QIP. Methods: Directors of EDs at 119 Veterans Adminis-tration hospitals and 160 non–Veterans Administration hospitals (identified based on the existence of accredited emergency medicine training programs and/or participa-tion in an existing ED-based research network) were surveyed. The survey included questions on the current existence of an antibiotic QIP in the ED, enthusiasm for an antibiotic QIP program, and the existence of physical features in the ED that would support the QIP intervention