Course Description
Presented by the Geisinger Quality Institute, the Quality Short Course is open to medical students, residents and attendings with a demonstrated interest in quality improvement. The resident will be part of a 5-6 person team composed of students, residents and attendings led by a trained facilitator.

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Goals
Provide knowledge and skills necessary to facilitate quality improvement in healthcare

Objectives

• Outline the research documenting need for healthcare improvement
• Define Microsystems 5P’s
• Identify key themes for improvement efforts
• Use the PDSA-SDSA process
• Develop meeting management skills
• Describe basic steps in managing change
• Outline steps in brainstorming and multivote
• Describe the value and context for the following tools and implement them in clinical care settings:
• • Fishbones
  • Process mapping
  • Flow charting
  • Run/control charts
  • Value stream mapping
  • Discuss the clinical value compass.
  • Identify the key attributes of a high reliability organization

Schedule
The course consists of five consecutive four-hour sessions offered in September and May annually, followed by participation in a quality improvement initiative. This elective may be combined with other electives as deemed appropriate by your program director.

Next course
September 2007
7:30 am – 12:30 pm
Danville campus area

Following the course didactic work, the participant will be engaged in one or more on going improvement teams for an additional 20 hour of more engagement over the September – May. These may be system teams such as 100,000 lives teams or established Clinic teams such as pediatrics, hematology/oncology or rheumatology. Episodic assignments will also include Root Cause Analysis assignments, Tracers for the JCAHO ongoing accreditation project or other short term assignments of 4 – 10 hour commitments. 

Participants will complete their engagement by presenting their work in system meetings or at the annual Geisinger Resident Research Day using storyboards or posters. This will count as a scholarly activity.

Topic Outline 

Participation will be by invitation from the design team (Michelle Thompson, MD; Linda Famiglio, MD; Scott Berry; Karen McKinley) with recommendation of the program director, advisor or supervisor. Applicants will be asked to write a paragraph describing the applicant’s motivation to join the course and how they intend to use the material following the course completion. Participants who are in a position to effect change, who plan to participate in improvement teams and who demonstrate evidence that they will incorporate their learning into future work will be given preference.

Faculty
Clinical Effectiveness staff, guest faculty and clinical associates experienced in Geisinger Quality Institute projects

Who should attend or “Why Do Quality?”
Three major changes in the healthcare landscape are before us:

• A paradigm change to patient-centered care
• An information environment that provides high-exposure, transparent outcomes data on quality and cost, and a consumer/regulatory base that is demanding this information.
• A new value-based, pay-for-performance payment concept.

In order to respond to these important changes, healthcare professionals must have the knowledge and skills necessary to facilitate quality improvement in the care we provide. Geisinger’s five year plan, “Geisinger Quality: Striving for Perfection”, was created in anticipation of the changes in the  healthcare landscape. Geisinger Quality Institute’s “Quality Short Course” will provide the professional with the basic skills necessary to participate in and lead improvement initiatives within our system.

Medical students interested in this “Quality” elective experience should seek the support of the Director of Medical Student Affairs.

Evaluation
Evaluations will be completed by the course directors at the completion of all required activities, including assessment of attendance at didactic sessions, degree of participation in a quality improvement initiative and quality of poster presentation at Resident Research Day.

Contact
Linda Famiglio, MD 
lfamiglio@geisinger.edu
570-271-6114