Daily compliance of the ABCDEF liberation bundle for patients in the intensive care unit: A retrospective descriptive study

Introduction: Implementing the ABCDEF bundle has demonstrated improved outcomes in patients with critical illness. This study aims to describe the daily compliance of the ABCDEF bundle in a Chilean intensive care unit.

Methods: Retrospective observational study of electronic clinical records of nursing, physiotherapy, and medical professionals who cared for patients over 18 years of age, admitted to an intensive care unit for at least 24 hours, with or without mechanical ventilation. Daily bundle compliance was determined by considering the daily records for each element: Assess pain (element A), both spontaneous awakening trials (element B1) and spontaneous breathing trials (element B2), choice of sedation (element C), delirium assessment (element D), early mobilization (element E), and family engagement (element F).

Results: 4165 registered bundle elements were obtained from nursing (47%), physiotherapy (44%), and physicians (7%), including 1134 patient/days (from 133 patients). Elements E and C showed 67 and 40% compliance, while D, A, and B2 showed 24, 14 and 11%, respectively. For B1 and F, 0% compliance was achieved. Compliance was higher in patients without mechanical ventilation for A and E, while it was similar for D.

Conclusions: Early mobilization had the highest compliance, while spontaneous awakening trials and family engagement had absolute non-compliance. Future studies should explore the reasons for the different degrees of compliance per bundle element in clinical practice.