Leading Healthcare Quality and Safety

Ensuring patient safety and healthcare quality is critical and should be a key focus of everyone in healthcare practice. This course provides healthcare practitioners and others with an introduction to the knowledge and skills needed to lead patient safety and quality improvement initiatives at the micro and macro levels. Participants will explore the foundations of health care quality and the science underlying patient safety and quality improvement, design and select effective health care measures, analyze patient safety problems and processes using tools such as human factors analysis, apply systematic approaches including the Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) model to address quality improvement challenges, and learn strategies to lead a culture of change. The course takes a world view of patient safety and quality, linking participants to research and resources from the World Health Organization (WHO), the US Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), the Joint Commission and other international organizations. Course highlights include personal stories, lessons learned from other industries and interviews with the President of the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) and other leaders in quality movement. Pawlson, g. & Johnson, J. (2021). Advancing Health Care Quality: Protecting Patients, Improving Lives. DEStech Publications Inc. About The George Washington University School of Nursing Ranked among the top nursing schools by U.S. News & World Report, the George Washington University School of Nursing educates and inspires nurses to provide high-quality, compassionate person-centered health care. The school develops leaders actively engaged in health promotion, patient advocacy and healthcare innovation, and prepares exceptional nurse educators who pursue quality and advance the profession. The School of Nursing is committed to improving the health and wellbeing of people and communities locally, nationally and globally. The school values lifelong learning and its students advance nursing practice, leadership and education as they make a difference in the world.

• Establishing a Framework for Quality & Safety
• Welcome to Module 1! During this module, you'll learn about the current state of healthcare quality and safety in the US and globally, and the essential characteristics and expected outcomes of safe, high-quality healthcare. We'll also discuss the core elements of quality improvement, and the data needed to assess the safety and quality of care. Finally, we'll examine lessons learned from other industries & disciplines that can be applied to healthcare improvement efforts. We're looking forward to getting started!
• Safety as a First Principle of Quality
• Welcome to Module 2! This week, we examine the criticality of patient safety to healthcare and the sciences underlying patient safety. You'll learn a model for systems engineering and a process for anticipating and addressing medical errors. You'll also learn about the importance of a just culture approach to medical error prevention.
• Measures & Measurement
• Welcome to Module 3! This week we delve into measures and measurement. You'll learn to apply the basic Donebedian framework for measuring quality in healthcare in terms of structure, process and outcomes. We'll discuss the key attributes of useful (good) healthcare measures and the core concepts of validity and reliability. You'll also learn the most critical elements to consider in choosing and applying a measure or measures to measurement in a given health care setting or situation, and the key characteristics of a measurement process that must be present to provide information that is a valid and useful reflection of quality of care.
• Quality and Safety Improvement Science
• Welcome to Module 4! This week you'll learn how to identify quality improvement opportunities and apply the PDSA cycle to address them. We'll also discuss the importance and benefits of team-based approaches to quality improvement, and the value of Health Information Technologies (HIT) and other innovations in improving health care quality.
• Leadership for Quality & Safety
• Welcome to Module 5! This week we explore the importance of leadership in supporting and advancing quality and safety at all levels of the healthcare organization. We'll discuss strategies that contribute to a quality culture in health care, and examine different models of organizational change that you can apply as you lead your own quality and safety initiatives.