This paper from BMJ Quality and Safety reports on an important national patient safety improvement programme, ‘Matching Michigan’, that aimed to reduce the incidence of central line infections in intensive care.

Matching Michigan aimed to replicate and spread in the UK a range of safety interventions and dramatic safety improvements pioneered in Michigan, USA.

This paper analyses the programme and provides an insightful view into the challenges and successes of large scale interventions. It suggests that, while infection rates improved to the level seen in Michigan, it is hard to attribute this directly to the Matching Michigan programme.