Reforming way medical students and physicians are taught about quality and safety

The purpose of this article is to briefly review the history of how quality and safety have been addressed in the United States by those who have been teaching medical students and residents, and then discuss why and how this training must change in the future to more effectively address the problems of improving healthcare quality and safety. Although it has become clear that the curriculum in medical schools should encompass quality and safety training, medical schools have been very slow to implement the reforms that are necessary to accomplish such a goal. These changes, although desirable from a rational perspective, involve basic changes in the culture of medical schools and teaching hospitals. Moreover, the cost of implementing these changes would be very large, and, if imposed by outside agencies, would likely constitute an unfunded mandate. It should also be noted that at the present time there are very few people who are well trained to develop and teach these classes. In order to accomplish the goal of improving patient safety, it is essential that we provide much more training and knowledge regarding patient safety to medical students, including knowledge of interventions known to be effective in preventing errors; education in technical performance; information about organizational and team issues; and training in disclosing errors to patients. This training should occur early in the training of professionals, preferably while they are still in school, if such training is to change the culture of medicine. Some suggestions and plans for implementation are discussed, using some innovative programs as examples.