How can quality improvement be learned in bite sizes?

Quality Improvement (QI) methods in healthcare are normally delivered through classroom-based education. This traditional way of training individuals creates an abundance of barriers such as financial outlay, geographical spread of learners, suitable time and venues for hosting training sessions etc. for educating multi-professional groups who need to work together on a single improvement project.

Mindful of these barriers, the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care (CLAHRC NWL) developed an eLearning resource called QI4U as part of an effort to build capacity in a systematic approach to quality improvement, that leads to better patient care.

QI4U’s content is peer-reviewed and based on rigorous research and ten years of experience from healthcare professionals, managers, patients, academics and service users who have experience in large scale QI projects giving users trusted quality.

The current modules available are:

• Action Effect Method
• Mental and Physical Wellbeing
• Public and Patient Engagement/Involvement
• Process Mapping
• Long Term Success
• Stakeholder Engagement
• Play-Do-Study-Act cycles
• Measurement for Improvement

On completion of a course, users receive a downloadable course completion certificate, accredited for CPD through the Royal College of Physicians, UK.

QI4U not only overcomes barriers of traditional learning mechanisms but also tackles geographical limits for learning across boundaries. QI4U is targeted towards but not limited to frontline clinicians, academics, patients, public and service users. QI4U allows individuals, teams and organisations to have a common language and shared understanding of QI terms and methods and how to do implement QI well in practice.