Introduction to Quality Improvement in Healthcare

In this module you will learn what is meant by quality in healthcare and why quality improvement is needed, and gain a high level appreciation for some important approaches to quality improvement. You will hear from a patient perspective about the implications of poor quality healthcare, and see some evidence of the global scale of the problem. You will learn about a well-studied example of a quality improvement initiative, the Michigan Keystone project. In addition, you will participate in activities to enable you to reflect on your own knowledge and experience of quality, and quality improvement, in health and care systems.

In this second module of the course you will be introduced to stakeholder engagement and empowerment including the importance of community, patient and public involvement. You will engage with lived experiences of service users and communities working together with clinicians and academics to improve health and healthcare. You will learn about the importance of good leadership and building a shared vision, and how to practically develop a programme theory for improvement through the Action Effect method.

This third module provides an introduction to process mapping and the Plan-Do-Study-Act Cycle as tools to support QI in practice. These methods are core in many approaches to improvement, used to understand and then improve processes of care. You will hear from experts in the field about their use of these methods, and their experiences leading quality improvement in practice, including during the COVID-19 pandemic. You will learn about challenges they encountered and strategies they used to overcome them.