Teaching residents about practice-based learning and improvement.

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Quality Improvement
• Healthcare Management

Background:

• Practice-based learning and improvement (PBLI) is a core competency endorsed by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education.
• Health professions educators have aimed to integrate quality improvement principles into training since the early 1990s.
• Optimal methods for training physicians in patient care improvement remain under investigation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the effectiveness of two educational interventions for teaching PBLI to internal medicine residents.
• To compare the performance of residents who participated in interventions with a control group.

Main Methods:

• Internal medicine residents participated in either personal improvement projects (PIPs), a workshop, or both, with a control group receiving neither intervention.
• An assessment tool measured applied improvement knowledge at project completion and six to eight months post-intervention.
• Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to compare performance across groups.

Main Results:

• No significant differences were found in applied improvement knowledge between PIP participants at project completion and at follow-up.
• No significant differences were detected among groups (PIP only, workshop only, both, controls) at the six- to eight-month follow-up.
• The assessment tool demonstrated good interrater reliability.

Conclusions:

• Neither personal improvement projects nor workshops alone were sufficient to establish competence in PBLI.
• Developing PBLI competency likely necessitates greater emphasis on experiential learning and active resident involvement in healthcare improvement initiatives.