This course will cover concepts and methods used for quality improvement in health care and will build on the basics covered in the Fundamentals of Improvement Science course. Topics will include methods and tools required to design and implement a quality improvement project from start to finish. The course will begin with an organizational context for conducting quality improvement work at a micro-system level, identification of team-based enablers for successful improvement, and three key approaches/models for improvement. The course will subsequently focus on the most common methods, tools, and measurement techniques used to improve health care delivery, and will conclude with essentials for sustaining change at a microsystem level, as well as incorporating a workshop on Experience-Based Design, a method for engaging patients in improvement work. The course structure will mirror the flow of an improvement project, beginning with initial design, and continuing through the diagnostic, solution generation, testing, measuring, and implementation phases. Students will be expected to apply the concepts introduced throughout the course to their individual improvement projects. The course is designed to provide students with the knowledge and skill necessary to plan and implement a successful quality improvement project, and to distinguish the most appropriate methods and tools to include in project design, based on the specific improvement challenges being addressed.

Objectives: 1) Describe the history and evolution of quality improvement science. 2) Critique a quality improvement project to identify the presence or absence of factors that contribute to a success, including strategies for influencing and sustaining change at the micro-system level. 3) Describe and apply the principles of Lean methodology and distinguish the conditions under which Lean, Six Sigma, and the Model for Improvement are most applicable. 4) Apply basic improvement tools to a quality improvement project, and demonstrate an ability to distinguish the use of specific tools to address different types of improvement challenges. 5) Summarize key principles for measurement for improvement, and develop and interpret statistical methods used to display data. 6) Discuss and experiment with different strategies for generating innovative ideas for improvement. 7) Integrate fundamental principles, methods, and tools for quality improvement in order to design and implement a quality improvement project. 8) Analyze the strengths and weaknesses of common evaluation designs for quality improvement initiatives through application of the rules of evidence to the published literature.