By the end of this course delegates will be able to:

• Make impactful decisions concerning both patient safety and healthcare quality in their healthcare organization
• Identify and rectify the variations in medical practice and their implications on patient safety and quality
• Use statistical tools to measure patient safety and quality in their department and at an organizational level
• Implement quality and patient safety as a core organizational strategy
• Create a culture of patient safety and healthcare quality by implementing fundamental concepts and international best practice

The urgent need for patient safety and healthcare quality

• Defining patient safety and healthcare quality
• The scope of medical errors and preventable harm to patients
• The prevalence of errors in healthcare
• Poorly designed systems: primary cause of errors
• The impact of human factors
• Patient safety and healthcare quality - concepts and applications

Definitions of “process” and “outcome”

• Quality of care attributes:
• Technical performance
• Patient centeredness
• Amenities
• Access
• Equity
• Efficiency
• Cost effectiveness
• Impact of “To Err is Human” (Institute of Medicine’s article)
• Healthcare quality measurement
• Relationship between quality and cost (Donabedian):
• Quality costs money
• Money does not necessarily buy quality
• Some improvements in quality are not worth the added cost

Medical practice and implications on patient safety and quality

• Evidence-based care and practice variation (Dr. Wennberg’s studies)
• Types of variation:
• Process
• Outcome
• Performance
• Effective care
• Preference-sensitive care
• Supply-sensitive care
• Design and evaluation of quality improvement initiatives
• Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycle (Edward Deming)
• Appreciation for a system
• Knowledge about variation
• Theory of knowledge

Psychology

Statistical tools to measure patient safety and quality

This course is designed specifically for clinicians and healthcare managers who have particular interest in the areas of patient safety and quality within the healthcare environment. This could include surgeons, physicians, clinical professionals, heads of nursing and any high-potential managers with significant patient safety and quality management responsibilities.

Target Competencies:

• Healthcare quality
• Patient Safety
• Leading Change
• Quality Measurement