Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Medical students gaining experience in Quality Improvement (QI)

I find it inspiring that medical students are getting experience in Quality Improvement. QI is not a normal part of the medical school curriculum. You may learn some basics around general QI concepts, but you don't generally get to work on a QI initiative.

Some medical students enrolled in dual-degree MD/MBA programs have worked on a QI project by applying business principles in a health care setting. After all, business principles related to process improvement can be applied in health care.

The IHI (Institute for Healthcare Improvement) Open School project has given today's medical students the resources and framework to work on a QI project. As an example: Colleen McCormick is a fourth-year medical student at Wright State University who will be doing her pediatrics residency at Northwestern University in Chicago, has written weekly posts for the IHI Open School blog. McCormick used the IHI Open School Quality Improvement Practicum to set up and execute her QI project.

If you're a medical student or resident interested in quality improvement, make sure to take get involved with the IHI Open School project.

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