FPQC Offers “Excellent” Training on Quality Improvement Methods
The Florida Hospital Association office in Orlando was the site of the latest FPQC Quality Improvement 2-Day Training, a focused workshop for hospital teams to learn quality improvement science and techniques and apply them to a specific unit-based quality improvement project.
Teams of nurses and physicians from four hospitals gathered on October 20 to learn about change management, how to develop a problem statement, designing process maps, creating key driver diagrams, and using a prioritization matrix to guide the implementation of a quality improvement project. “The training is particularly useful when it is based on an actual issue or project in the team’s unit,” said Betsy Wood. “After two days, they come out with a well-defined and constructed QI project to work on to improve their unit.”
The workshop trainers, Dr. Maya Balakrishnan, FPQC Director of Quality, and Karen Fugate, Quality Specialist at Tampa General Hospital, provided interactive exercises and individual consultation with teams as they worked on learning quality improvement concepts and approaches. The second day of the training was devoted to understanding data and determining measures and how to implement and assess small tests of change using plan-do-study-act (PDSA) cycles. Each training topic session ended with a group review of materials each hospital team had developed to help improve their project and promote peer-to-peer learning.
As one participant commented: “[They] made sure we understood each piece of the process—if there was any question, we would work it out as a total group which helped all learn.” Participants in the training unanimously rated it as excellent.
The same training was also held in May 2016 at Broward Health Medical Center. Feedback on the training has been overwhelmingly positive. Previous attendees noted “The trainers were extremely knowledgeable, willing to assist with individual projects, and provided a safe environment to learn.”
QI Trainers Karen Fugate (left) and Maya Balakrishnan (second from right), with Broward Health Team and Emily Bronson (third from left), in May 2016.
This training was described as providing “informative and in-depth information for creating and participating in QI projects.” FPQC plans to offer future QI trainings and is also planning a one day pre-conference seminar on quality improvement for FPQC 2017.
If your hospital team is interested in attending a perinatal-focused QI training, please contact FPQC@health.usf.edu