PH556x: Practical Improvement Science in Healthcare: A Roadmap for Getting Results
Instructors and Guest Faculty
- Don Goldmann, MD, Professor of Immunology and Infectious Diseases, and Epidemiology, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health; Clinical Professor of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School; Chief Medical and Scientific Officer, Institute for Healthcare Improvement
- Dave Williams, PhD, Executive Director, Institute for Healthcare Improvement
- Don Berwick, MD, MPP, FRCP, President Emeritus and Senior Fellow, Institute for Healthcare Improvement
- Amy Reid, MPH, Senior Research Associate, Institute for Healthcare Improvement
- Karen Baldoza, MSW, Executive Director, Institute for Healthcare Improvement
Course Description
Think for a minute about colleagues you know who have tried to improve healthcare outcomes — or perhaps improve the health of people in a community. Why does one project designed to reduce unnecessary hospital admissions or emergency department visits achieve dramatic improvement, while another has no impact? Why is one community-based effort to improve immunization rates in children successful, while another has no positive results?
There is a scientific approach to improvement — a practical, rigorous methodology that includes a theory of change, measurable aims, and iterative, incremental small tests of change to determine if improvement concepts can be implemented effectively in practice.
This course, PH 556x: Practical Improvement Science in Healthcare: A Roadmap for Getting Results will provide learners with the valuable skills and simple, well-tested tools they need to translate promising innovations or evidence into practice. A group of expert faculty from Harvard and the Institute for Healthcare Improvement will present this science through the lens of improving health and healthcare, but will also share examples of how improvement can (and does) influence our daily lives.
Each week, learners will dive into engaging, interactive video lectures and relevant resources to start building an improvement toolkit that will serve them long after the six-week course ends. Learners will immediately put their new skills to the test as they work each week on a personal improvement project that will show them the power of the science that has improved healthcare — and other industries — around the world for decades.
The only prerequisite for the course is curiosity, but the reward is a lifetime of improvement.
Course Learning Objectives
- Discuss why improvement science is valuable in health and healthcare.
- Explain why understanding a system is critical to improving a process.
- Discuss the value of conducting iterative tests of change.
- Explain how an improvement project becomes reliable, standard work.
- Design and execute a personal improvement project, including an aim, measures, and tests of change.
Key Course Elements
- Instructor Lecture Videos
- Guest Lecture Videos
- Readings
- Discussion Forums
- Learning Checks
- Assignments (peer-reviewed)
- Assessment Questions (graded)
- Pre-/Post-Course Surveys
- Supplemental Readings — recommended, but not required
- Supplemental Videos — recommended, but not required
Grading
This course has five assignments, each of which will be posted on a Wednesday along with lesson materials. If you have any questions about an assignment, we encourage you to post them on the discussion forum so that other learners can provide input along with the teaching assistants and the professors.
- Personal Improvement Project: 53%
(Total of all peer-reviewed and self-reviewed project components) - End-of-lesson Quizzes: 42%
- Participation: 5%
Learners must earn a total grade of 70% in order to pass the course and earn a certificate of completion.
Course Outline
New course material will go live every Wednesday at 17:00 Coordinated Universal Time (UTC)/12:00pm EST beginning with Week 1 on January 20, 2016. All material will remain available for the remainder of the course once it has been released.
The final week's content will be posted on Wednesday, February 24, 2016. The course will end on March 9, 2016. All assignments must be submitted by this date, and learners who have registered to receive an edX Verified Certificate or Continuing Education credit through IHI must receive a grade of 70% or higher to pass. EdX Verified Certificates will be issued after the close of the course. Learners who are interested in obtaining continuing education credits must register with IHI by April 9, 2016 to receive this credit.
Week 1: What is the Science of Improvement?
Available January 20, 2016
Lecturer: Don Goldmann
- Welcome to the Course: Faculty Introductions
- Why Improve Health and Healthcare?
- Improvement Starts with Knowledge of a System
- Profound Knowledge and the Model for Improvement
- Introduction to PDSA Cycles
- Improving Rounds for Don Goldmann's Residents
- Faculty Footnotes
- Your Turn: Write an opportunity statement
Week 2: Applying the Model for Improvement
Available January 27, 2016
Lecturer: Don Goldmann
- Choosing the Right Aim
- Introduction to Measurement
- Finding Changes that Lead to Improvement
- Running Successive Tests of Change
- Chartering Your Project
- Don Berwick's Dinner Project and Big Changes in Scotland
- Setting Up a Successful Project
- Faculty Footnotes
- Your Turn: Submit a project charter
Week 3: Introduction to Measurement for Improvement
Available February 3, 2016
Lecturer: Dave Williams
- What is Data?
- The Three Faces of Measurement
- Creating a Data Plan
- Finding a Family of Measures
- Graphing Data over Time
- The Run Chart Rules
- Constructing a Run Chart
- How to Tell When Change Is an Improvement
- Improvement in Action — Dimock Center
- Faculty Footnotes
- Your Turn: Submit an image of your first run chart
Week 4: Practical Tools that Support Improvement
Available February 10, 2016
Lecturers: Don Goldmann, Dave Williams, Amy Reid
- Moving from Theory to Action
- What's Your Degree of Belief?
- Driver Diagrams: Visualizing Your Change Theory
- A Few Cautions for Improvers
- Learning Logic Models
- Creating Conceptual Models
- Improvement Toolkit
- Faculty Footnotes
- Your Turn: Create a driver diagram
Week 5: Using Systems Principles to Spread an Improvement Project
Available February 17, 2016
Lecturers: Dave Williams, Don Goldmann, Karen Baldoza
- The Four Phases of an Improvement Project
- Spreading a Checklist
- The Value of a Priority Matrix
- Using Flow Diagrams in Improvement Work
- Finding the Right Flow Diagram for You
- Diagramming a System
- Improvement in Action — Cambridge Health Alliance
- Faculty Footnotes
- Your Turn: Submit a project summary
Week 6: Implementing Sustainable Improvement Work
Available February 24, 2016
Lecturer: Don Goldmann
- Moving to Reliability
- Designing a Reliable System
- What Happens in Unreliable Systems?
- Cautions about Reliability
- Monitoring Reliable Systems During Daily Work
- Two Stories of Reliability
- Faculty Footnotes
- Course Wrap-Up
Course Ends March 9, 2016
Earn an edX Verified Certificate or Continuing Education Credits for "Practical Improvement Science in Healthcare: A Roadmap for Getting Results," for $99!
"Practical Improvement Science in Health Care: A Roadmap for Getting Results" is offering learners the opportunity to upgrade to an edX Verified certificate for all learners or 6 hours of continuing education credits (CE) for eligible health care professionals.
In support of improving patient care, the Institute for Healthcare Improvement is accredited by the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC), the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE), and the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) to provide continuing education for the healthcare team. This activity has also been approved by the National Association for Healthcare Quality (NAHQ) for Certified Professionals in Healthcare Quality (CPHQ) CE credit.
| Option | Pass Rate | Cost | Registration Deadline | Criteria |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| edX Honor Code | 70% | Free | Registration is open for the entire course run, but we recommend registering on or before January 20th, 2016 to avoid falling behind. | All participants must register for this option in order to have access to the course materials in edX. |
| edX Verified Certificate | 70% | $99 (USD) | February 2, 2016 | Register for this option if you want to upgrade to an edX Verified Certificate. |
| Continuing Education Credits offered through the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) | 70% | $99 (USD) | Registration is open until April 9, 2016. Upon completion of the course, learners will receive an email with instructions to claim credits. To pre-register for this credit option, for more information and to register, visit: ihi.org/PH556X | Register for this option if you are eligible for one of these certifications. 6 Credit Hours
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