Practice-based learning and improvement: a curriculum in continuous quality improvement for surgery residents

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Surgical Training
• Healthcare Quality Improvement

Background:

• Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) is essential for enhancing healthcare delivery and patient outcomes.
• Integrating CQI principles into surgical residency programs presents an opportunity to foster a culture of improvement.
• Residents often possess valuable insights into system inefficiencies but may lack formal training in quality improvement methodologies.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the effectiveness of a structured curriculum in teaching Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) principles to surgery residents.
• To evaluate residents' ability to develop and propose quality improvement projects within their training environment.
• To determine the impact of CQI training on residents' attitudes, knowledge, and self-efficacy regarding quality improvement.

Main Methods:

• A curriculum focused on Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) principles and project development was implemented.
• The study involved fifteen surgical residents during their dedicated research year at a university surgical residency program with multiple training sites.
• Resident self-reported attitudes towards quality improvement and the implementation of resident-initiated projects were the primary outcome measures.

Main Results:

• Survey data indicated significant improvements in residents' knowledge, self-efficacy, and overall experience with CQI.
• Fifteen residents, working in small teams, successfully developed four distinct quality improvement projects.
• These projects were deemed worthy of implementation, demonstrating the practical application of learned CQI principles.

Conclusions:

• A structured Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) curriculum can be effectively integrated into general surgery residency programs.
• Residents demonstrated proficiency in conceptualizing CQI projects using the Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycle.
• This educational approach fostered resident engagement, potentially enhanced patient care, improved surgical education, and addressed Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education competencies.