Tomorrow’s hospital will be increasingly oriented around quality and safety; today’s students must prepare to thrive in that environment.
That’s the philosophy behind SHM’s Quality and Safety Educators Academy (QSEA). Now in its second year, the two-and-a-half-day academy trains hospitalist educators to teach medical students and residents about quality and safety.
QSEA, co-hosted by SHM and the Alliance for Academic Internal Medicine, is March 7-9 at Tempe Mission Palms in Tempe, Ariz. Registration is now open at www.hospitalmedicine.org/qsea.
“In order to be successful, we must teach medical students and residents about these goals so that they incorporate them into their practice from day one,” says Jennifer S. Myers, MD, associate professor of clinical medicine, patient safety officer, and director of quality and safety education at the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine in Philadelphia.
Progress in quality improvement (QI) and patient safety has been slow because many current physicians aren’t familiar with the materials, creating what Dr. Myers refers to as a “faculty development” gap. QSEA is the first and only academy designed to close that gap for hospitalist faculty by giving them specific knowledge, skills, a take-home toolkit, and a brand-new peer network of other quality-minded educators.
A major part of the academy is dedicated to the career trajectory of educators and, in Dr. Myers’ words, “how a hospitalist can be successful in making quality and safety education a career path.”
Despite the serious topics, she also is quick to point out that the academy is anything but dry.
“You have to experience it,” she says. “We have a ton of fun. You will leave with a new family.”
At the end of the inaugural QSEA, the faculty and course directors were so energized by the attendees that they formed a human pyramid. “It was a great moment,” she says.
Dr. Myers says she still enjoys receiving email from QSEA attendees about their new adventures in quality and safety education. “This makes it all worth it and why the QSEA team does this work,” she says.