Multisite, quality-improvement collaboration to optimise cardiac care in Queensland public hospitals.

Objective: To evaluate changes in quality of in-hospital care of patients with either acute coronary syndromes (ACS) or congestive heart failure (CHF) admitted to hospitals participating in a multisite quality improvement collaboration.

Design: Before-and-after study of changes in quality indicators measured on representative patient samples between June 2001 and January 2003.

Setting: Nine public hospitals in Queensland.