Enhancing Resident Education by Embedding Improvement Specialists Into a Quality and Safety Curriculum

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Healthcare Quality Improvement
• Patient Safety

Background:

• Quality Improvement and Patient Safety (QIPS) curricula are essential in graduate medical education.
• Barriers often hinder the effectiveness of QIPS educational experiences and project outcomes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the impact of QIPS curricular enhancements and the integration of continuous improvement specialists (CIS).
• To evaluate project quality by analyzing the A3 document, a key project deliverable.

Main Methods:

• A retrospective cohort study compared QIPS curricula before and after enhancements implemented in 2017.
• Enhancements included integrating CIS staff as co-facilitators in resident projects.
• A blinded reviewer quantitatively assessed A3 documents using a standardized tool.

Main Results:

• A significantly higher percentage of A3 documents were available post-intervention (91%) versus pre-intervention (27%).
• Scores improved for 74% of A3 items and 88% of sections.
• Mean A3 total scores increased from 29.0 to 47.0 (P<.001).

Conclusions:

• Integrating CIS experts into residency QIPS curricula improves the quality of A3 documents.
• This approach offers a viable strategy for enhancing QIPS education and project outcomes.