Swimming With Sharks: Teaching Residents Value-Based Medicine and Quality Improvement Through Resident-Pitched...

To create meaningful quality improvement (QI) curricula for graduate medical education (GME) trainees, institutions strive to improve coordination of QI curricula with hospital improvement infrastructure.

We created a curriculum to teach residents about QI and value-based medicine (VBM) and assessed curricular effectiveness.

We designed a 2-week required curriculum for internal medicine residents at a large academic program. After participating in basic skills workshops, trainees developed QI/VBM project ideas with faculty and nonclinical support and pitched them to hospital leaders at the end of the rotation. Pre-post and 1-year follow-up surveys were conducted for residents to self-assess knowledge, attitudes, and skills, participation in QI/VBM projects, and career intentions. We tracked QI/VBM project implementation.

In the first 2 years (2017-2018), 92 trainees participated, and 71 of 76 (93%) recommended the curriculum. Surveys (76 of 92, 83%) show improvement in our learning objectives (12%-60% pre to 62%-97% post; P < .001 for all; Cohen's d effect size 0.7-1.2), which are sustained at 1-year follow-up (57%-95%; P < .01). Four of 19 projects have been implemented. At 1 year, 95% of residents had presented a quality/value poster presentation, 44% were involved in QI/VBM beyond required rotations, and 26% plan to pursue careers focused on improving quality, safety, or value.

Our project-based curriculum culminating in a project pitch to hospital leadership was acceptable to GME trainees, improved self-assessed skills sustained at 1 year, and resulted in successfully implemented QI/VBM projects.