Patient Safety and Quality Improvement: Developing a Systems View (Patient Safety I)

Go to Course: https://www.coursera.org/learn/patient-safety-systems-view

Introduction

## Course Review and Recommendation: Patient Safety and Quality Improvement: Developing a Systems View (Patient Safety I) **Overview** In today’s healthcare environment, where patient needs and safety are paramount, understanding the frameworks and methodologies that drive patient safety and quality improvement is crucial. The Coursera course titled **"Patient Safety and Quality Improvement: Developing a Systems View (Patient Safety I)"** offers an insightful introduction into this vital area. This course is designed for healthcare professionals, safety officers, and quality improvement practitioners who wish to deepen their understanding of systems thinking in healthcare. **Course Objectives** By the end of this course, participants will have the knowledge to: 1. Identify key events in the history of patient safety and quality improvement. 2. Define the characteristics that make organizations highly reliable. 3. Explain the necessity of both proactive and reactive systems thinking strategies. **Syllabus Breakdown** The course consists of four engaging modules that effectively map out the landscape of patient safety and quality improvement: 1. **The History of Patient Safety and Quality Improvement**: - This module delves into the evolution of patient safety, addressing the magnitude of preventable harm in healthcare. Participants engage with three landmark reports that have significantly shaped patient safety practices. By the end of this module, you’ll be equipped to identify crucial historical events and articulate their impact on modern healthcare. 2. **Definitions in Patient Safety and Quality Improvement: An Overview**: - It’s essential to speak the same language when dealing with patient safety. This module provides clarity on key terms like harm, hazard, error, and risk, along with their application in the field. Furthermore, it distinguishes the overlapping yet distinct areas of quality and safety, ensuring learners can navigate these conversations confidently. 3. **High Reliability Organizing and Why it Matters**: - Understanding high reliability organizations (HROs) is pivotal for those looking to implement effective safety practices. This module highlights the socio-cultural characteristics of HROs and their methodologies, allowing learners to compare and contrast these organizations with traditional healthcare settings. Armed with this knowledge, participants can identify and implement tools that enhance reliability. 4. **Applying a Systems Lens to Healthcare**: - The final module introduces systems thinking, a critical skill for analyzing and improving healthcare processes. Participants explore different problem-solving methods, distinguishing between immediate and root causes. Strategies for proactive and reactive approaches are discussed, empowering learners to think critically about system-wide improvements. **Review and Recommendations** This course has been thoughtfully structured, with each module building upon the last to ensure a comprehensive understanding of patient safety. The integration of historical context with practical application is particularly notable. ### Pros: - **Engaging Content**: The historical context provides necessary depth, making the subject matter not only informative but also compelling. - **Practical Tools**: Each module includes actionable insights and methodologies that can be directly applied in a healthcare setting. - **Flexibility**: Being an online course, it allows for a self-paced experience perfect for busy professionals. ### Cons: - **Time Commitment**: While the course is extensive, the depth of content may require a significant time investment, which might be challenging for some learners. - **Limited Interactivity**: For those who thrive in interactive sessions, the online format may feel somewhat isolated. **Recommendation** I highly recommend this course for anyone involved in healthcare—be you a clinician, manager, or policy-maker—seeking to enhance patient safety and quality practices. The blend of historical insight and systems thinking equips you with a robust framework for understanding and addressing challenges in healthcare quality. Upon completion, you will not only acquire essential knowledge but also leave feeling empowered to make a real difference in your organization’s approach to patient safety. Overall, "Patient Safety and Quality Improvement: Developing a Systems View (Patient Safety I)" is a vital course that elevates your understanding of patient safety, ultimately enhancing your ability to contribute positively to a crucial aspect of healthcare.

Syllabus

The History of Patient Safety and Quality Improvement

In this module, you will review the history of patient safety and quality improvement in healthcare. You will start with defining the scope of the problem of preventable harm in healthcare which leads into the history of the work that has been done to date that has helped to define, measure and improve preventable harm. You review three landmark reports to ensure you have a deep understanding of this work. At the end of this module, you will be able to: 1) identify a minimum of four key events in the history of patient safety an quality improvement, 2) describe the key characteristics of each of the three landmark patient safety publications and 3) summarize the impact of preventable harm on patients, communities and society.

In this module, you will be reviewing several key terms and tools that are used in patient safety and quality improvement. This will allow you to begin to develop the common language used among patient safety and quality improvement experts and practitioners. By the end of this module you will be able to: 1) differentiate between the terms harm, hazard, error and risk within a patient safety and quality improvement framework, 2) describe how quality and safety overlap and how they are different and 3) differentiate between root cause analysis and a failure mode and effects analysis.

In this module, you will learn the fundamental principles of high reliability organizing. At the end of this lesson, you will also be able to: 1) describe the socio-cultural characteristics of high reliability organizations (HROs), 2) compare and contrast healthcare with high reliability organizations and 3) identify three improvement tools for high reliability organizing.

In this module, you will learn the basics of systems thinking and then apply these to a healthcare setting. At the end of this module, you will be able to 1) explain the basic components of a system, 2) differentiate first order problem solving and second order problem solving, 3) explain the benefits of having strategies for both proactive and reactive systems thinking.