Teaching Quality Improvement in the Classroom and Clinic: Getting it Wrong and Getting it Right

Abstract

<H4>ABSTRACT </H4> <P>The world in which today’s graduates will provide care is changing, as are expectations about caregivers’ performance. Learning how to improve quality of care must occur during, and as part of, learning about patient care. In this article, I describe a continuous quality improvement learning program that was integrated into nursing students’ education and a study evaluating the students’ experiences with the implementation of the program through open-ended questions and focus groups. The program consisted of three parts: participating in a personal improvement project; observing and describing a patient process from the patient’s perspective; and working in teams with process improvement in clinical practice. </P> <P>The findings indicated the students learned improvement methods and tools during their personal improvement projects, but their ability to translate that knowledge into action, and thereby improve patient care, was insufficiently developed through coaching, reflection, and role modeling. In other words, the experience was not integrated into the students’ general education. In addition, faculty and clinical staff did not seem to be adequately informed and had limited knowledge of the students’ clinical improvement projects. </P> <H4>AUTHOR</H4> <P>Received: February 16, 2004 </P> <P>Accepted: September 10, 2004 </P> <P>Dr. Kyrkjebø is Associate Professor, Bergen University College, Department of Health and Social Sciences, Bergen, Norway. </P> <P>Address correspondence to Jane Mikkelsen Kyrkjebø, PhD, RN, Associate Professor, Bergen University College, Department of Health and Social Sciences, Haukelandsbk. 45, N-5009 Bergen, Norway; e-mail: <A HREF="mailto:kyrkjebo@online.no">kyrkjebo@online.no</A>. </P>

An evaluation of approaches used to teach quality improvement to pre-registration healthcare professionals: An integrative review

“…Of the quantitative studies, three adopted a quasi-experimental design (Kyrkjebo et al, 2001;Gould et al, 2002;Gonsenhauser et al, 2012) and one used post intervention evaluation (Christiansen et al, 2010). Of the mixed method studies, one adopted a quasi-experimental design (Levit et al, 2012) and three used post intervention evaluation (Baillie et al, 2014;Kyrkjebo, 2006;Skledar and McKaveney, 2009). The qualitative study was a post-intervention evaluation (James et al, 2016).…”

“…Lastly, one study (Kyrkjebo, 2006) utilised their own questionnaire with 44 participants alongside focus group interviews and assignment reports, to evaluate reaction, attitudes and knowledge.…”

“…Similarly, nursing students undertook an eight week personal improvement project as a way of facilitating the transfer of quality improvement knowledge from a personal to professional context (Kyrkjebo, 2006) and pharmacy students conducted a hypothetical quality improvement 'practicum' which involved problem identification from the evidence-base (or a personal topic), design of measures and a proposal for solutions (Skledar and McKaveney, 2009).…”

“…Students also moved beyond the classroom to engage clinically in quality improvement activities. This involved observational activities within care homes, medical and surgical wards whereby nursing students used process maps to document patient journeys through the healthcare system (Kyrkjebo et al, 2001;Kyrkjebo, 2006). Patient stories were collected and analysed as a way of identifying improvement opportunities.…”

Effect of Procedure Type on Core Competency Implementation by Athletic Training Students

“…In nursing education, the inclusion of assignments, such as personal reflections or patient observations, results in an increased understanding and inclusion of QI. 22 The inclusion of such assignments for athletic training students in clinical education experiences, especially pertaining to PEs that involve manual therapy or rehabilitation procedures, could improve upon the students' understanding of QI.…”