Purpose: To describe the development, implementation, and evaluation of a residency continuous quality improvement (CQI) curriculum.
Method: Forty-four medicine and pediatrics residents participated in a CQI curriculum. Resident-designed projects were scored for CQI construct skills using a grading tool. Pre- and post-tests evaluated knowledge, perceived knowledge, interest, and self-efficacy.
Results: Differences between pre- and post-test perceived knowledge and self-efficacy were highly significant (p <.001). The mean project score was 81.7% (SD 8.3%). Higher knowledge was associated with higher ratings of self-efficacy. There was no correlation of measured knowledge with project score or interest.
Conclusions: Resident education and learning in CQI served to produce innovative and creative improvement projects that demonstrated individual residents' competency in practice-based learning and improvement.