Congratulations on your selection as a 2017-2018 UNC Institute for Healthcare Quality Improvement Improvement Scholar. We look forward to working with you. This document describes the Improvement Scholars Program objectives, structure, and IHQI’s approach to clinical improvement.

The Improvement Scholars Program is, at its core, a faculty development program. The relationship between IHQI and Improvement Scholar teams is intentionally close. The goal of the Improvement Scholars program is to develop faculty to lead robust clinical improvement and ultimately mentor others to improve care and outcomes.

The Improvement Scholars Program is an experiential program that incorporates the following:

  • Lean and Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) Quality Improvement
  • Teamwork (TeamSTEPPSTM)
  • Partnering with Patients and Families
  • Project Management
  • High- and Low-Fidelity Simulation
  • Statistical Process Control
  • Presenting and Publishing Improvement Results

IHQI will provide training, mentorship, and guidanceas well as half-time support of an improvement project manager from September 2017 through August 2018. You, your project manager, and other team members you designate will meet with IHQI monthly except in October, January, and April when all Improvement Scholar project teams will meet together.

The purpose of the meetings is to assess progress, discuss challenges, plan PDSA cycles, and celebrate successes. IHQI will coach teams to apply improvement methods, teamwork, simulation (where appropriate), and project management. Teams will learn to partner with patients and families to drive improvement and to report and communicate results.

Over the course of the year, you will gain experience:

  • Designing, planning, and implementing clinical improvement
  • Running Plan-Do-Study-Act cycles
  • Building and leading an improvement project team
  • Submitting an application to the Institutional Review Board
  • Communicating progress and results of your improvement project
  • Preparing for sustainment

IHQI Improvement Scholars Program Team

Name / IHQI Role / Improvement Scholars Project Coach
Tina Willis / Director / VTE, Pediatric Discharge, Care Transitions
Shana Ratner / Associate Director / LGBT Patient Care, Geriatrics Transitions, COPD
Laura Brown / Operations Director / All Projects
Jake Reardon / Program Coordinator

IHQI Improvement Scholars Checklist (work-in-progress)

Milestone / Resource / Target Completion
Letter of Intent Due / Nov 2016
Invitation to Apply / Dec 2016
Proposal Planning Meeting with IHQI / Dec 2016/Jan 2017
Proposal / Feb 2017
Award Notification / Mar 2017
Award Meeting with IHQI / Mar/Apr 2017
Planning Meeting with IHQI / The Improvement Guide: A Practical Approach to Enhancing Organizational Performance
A Framework for Safe, Reliable, and Effective Care
Comparing Lean and Quality Improvement / Jun/Jul 2017
Refine Project Team Composition
Clinical Lead
Project Manager
Data Analyst
Improvement Coach
Patient & Family Advisor
Clinician(s)
Manager(s)

Sponsor / June/July 2017
IRB Application & Approval / Sep 2017
Yellow Belt – all project team members / Sep 2017
Blue Belt – project sponsor (required) and project lead (recommended) / Sep 2017
Purple Belt Enrollment (if applicable) / Sep 2017
Project Charter / Improvement Project Charter Template / By kickoff meeting
Email to IHQI Sep 30, 2017
Key Driver Diagram / What’s Your Theory
Examples / By kickoff meeting
Email to IHQI Sep 30, 2017
Kick off Meeting / Example Agenda / Sep 2017
Project timeline (Gantt chart) / Template / Sep 2017
Stakeholder Analysis / Article/Instructions (to be identified) / Sep 2017
Communication Plan / Template / Oct 2017
SPC Charts – unpopulated or populated / QI Macros
The Health Care Data Guide: Learning from Data for Improvement / Oct 2017
Project Sponsor Meetings / Example Agenda / Sep 2017 (Kickoff)
At least quarterly
Project Team Meetings with IHQI
General Format:
SPC Charts
PDSA Summary
Challenges/Barriers
Sustainment
Next Steps / Sep, Nov, Dec, Feb, Mar, May, Jun, Jul, Aug
All Scholars Meetings / Oct 2017, Jan 2018, Apr 2018
Improvement Scholars Symposium / TBD
Spread Plan / Examples
Template / Jul 2018
Toolkit / Examples
Template
Sustainment Plan / Examples
Template / Jun 2018
Publication & Presentation Plan / Organizing a Manuscript Reporting Quality Improvement or Patient Safety Research
Toward Stronger Evidence on Quality Improvement. Draft Publication Guidelines: the Beginning of a Consensus Project / Jun 2018
Closeout Meeting / Aug/Sep 2018