Advocate Lutheran General Hospital, Park Ridge, IL
Development of a QI and Patient Safety Curriculum for a Family Practice Residency Program

Abstract

Background: QI and PS are 2 interrelated subjects that are not routinely taught to residents and residency faculty. Our Family Medicine residency program planned to teach these concepts through both didactics and hands-on projects. We implemented an ongoing lecture series on QI and PS and completed QI projects targeting the patient-centered medical home model.

Methods: We presented 8 topics on QI and PS to the residents. Faculty received online training on PS prior to this intervention and attended a faculty development session on the basics of QI. PGY2s and PGY3s reviewed the IHI online modules about PDSA cycles. Concurrently, 5 newly established teams (1 inpatient and 4 outpatient) started projects that would improve care in their respective settings and met twice a month for the duration of the project.

Results: The 5 teams saw area-specific results: (1) the geriatric wellness team saw an increase of annual wellness visits, (2) the patient satisfaction team performed an office time study, (3) the immunizations team created a refusal-to-vaccinate form, (4) the inpatient team is conducting an ongoing readmission reduction study, and (5) the coronary artery disease team developed group visits. The projects involved Family Medicine residents, utilized timely didactic information, and required regularly scheduled meetings for successful completion. Not all QI team members had QI training, and some teams did not initially choose measurable outcomes.

Conclusions: Residents learned the steps used in QI processes by participating in projects, attending didactic sessions that preceded the projects, and discussing project content during the didactic sessions. Future projects will be different than previous projects, and outcome measurement of the relative success of each team's project will be expected for future projects.