The IHI Open School is an innovative learning community where you can take free online courses, earn certificates, network with peers and experts, and gain confidence and skills in quality improvement and patient safety to change health care.
Patient engagement, co-production of health, and shared decision making — there are lots of buzzwords in the movement to make health care more about what patients want. Now, we have a new series of videos with one of the leaders in this field to help you learn some of the essential skills for patient-centered communication. Connie Davis of the Centre for Collaboration, Motivation, and Innovation explains how to use motivation interviewing; “ask, tell, ask”; and brief action planning with patients.
In the United States, African-Americans have shorter life expectancies than whites, even when socioeconomic status is the same. This month, we’re inviting you to participate in two opportunities to learn more about health inequities. On Twitter, join Dr. Don Berwick and the 100 Million Healthier Lives initiative on February 16 at 10:30 AM to chat about health equity using the hashtag #100MLives. Learn more through the IHI Open School course TA 102: Improving Health Equity, available free to all through next month.
Career advice for students entering the medical profession isn’t always encouraging — it can sound more like “run while you can.” But as health professions students gear up for their spring semester, this letter in Forbes has a different take on the challenges of a career in health care today. “Every problem in American health care represents an opportunity. Today’s medical students can be tomorrow’s change leaders,” writes the author. “Our health care system desperately needs physicians who are skilled not only at clinical science, but also at delivery science — how to build and sustain systems that reliably produce clinical outcomes.” We couldn’t agree more. Learn how to make change in our free course, QI 102: The Model for Improvement: Your Engine for Change.
Attention, Chapters: Apply by Tuesday, March 1 to receive funding from the IHI Open School for your spring semester events. Last semester, IHI Open School Chapters found exciting ways to inspire their peers about quality and safety in health care using these funds, including:
The University of Windsor gathered students for a Patient Safety Learning Series.
The University of Colorado-Denver held their very own Patient Safety and Quality Health Care week, including a simulation.
The University of Texas Southwestern held an interdisciplinary student conference with poster presentations and students from other schools.
Rhode IslandandDuke University students invited health care executives to talk about quality in the real world.
