The Educational Toolbox: Kick Start Your Educational Program in Quality Improvement

To disseminate materials and learning from the proceedings of the Association of Program Directors 2014 Annual Meeting workshop on the integration of quality improvement (QI) education into the existing educational infrastructure.

Modern surgical practice demands an understanding of QI methodology. Yet, today׳s surgeons are not formally educated in QI methodology. Therefore, it is hard to follow the historical mantra of "see one, do one, teach one" in the quality realm.

Participants were given a brief introduction to QI approaches. A number of concrete examples of how to incorporate QI education into training programs were presented, followed by a small group session focused on the identification of barriers to incorporation. Participants were provided with a worksheet to help navigate the initial incorporation of QI education in 3 steps.

Participants were representative of all types of training programs, with differing levels of existing QI integration. Barriers to QI education included lack of resident interest/buy-in, concerns over the availability of educational resources (i.e., limited time to devote to QI), and a limited QI knowledge among surgical educators. The 3 steps to kick starting the educational process included (1) choosing a specific method of QI education, (2) incorporation via barrier, infrastructure, and stakeholder identification, and (3) implementation and ongoing assessment.

Recent changes in the delivery of surgical care along with the new accreditation system have necessitated the development of QI education programs for use in surgical education. To continue to make surgery safer and ensure optimal patient outcomes, surgical educators must teach each resident to adopt quality science methodology in a meaningful way.