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. Receive our newsletter from a friend? Click here to sign up.
The US is in the midst of a serious opioid addiction epidemic. Driven largely by an explosion of prescribed pain medications, deaths from overdoses have quadrupled since 1999, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. What role can students play? On a recent WIHI, IHI’s Executive Director of Innovation, Lindsay Martin, said that students can lead new best practices for pain management and opioid prescribing. That's just one example of how they can help. Learn more in a video clip on the WIHI archive page, where you can also download the podcast. Catch the next WIHI on joy in work this Thursday, May 5.
Shai Mann-Robison, 14, is a typical 8th grader in many ways. But Shai knows more about health care than the typical 8th grader. He has severe hemophilia A, a lot of allergies, and asthma. Shai created a short video with LEGO blocks about what it’s like to get an MRI. The video caught our eye as a great example of what young people and patients can contribute to health care improvement. Read an interview with Shai here, and learn about patient-centered communication in PFC 101: Dignity and Respect.
At a tender age, Jennifer Adaeze Anyaegbunam learned about racial stereotypes. Her mother, a black physician, was trying to park in the physicians’ lot at the hospital where she worked, only to be turned away by an attendant who didn’t believe she was a doctor. Anyaegbunam recently wrote an essay in Stat News about her experience with racism as a black physician-in-training, and now she’s recapped four things she learned from readers who responded in droves to her piece. Learn more about implicit bias in this short video.
Chapter Updates
Welcome, New Chapters
Walsall Manor Hospital, United Kingdom
This week, we hit a milestone: 800 Open School Chapters in more than 80 countries. Congratulations, students!
Each year, we ask each of our Chapters to submit a Chapter Progress Report. These (very short) reports let us know what you’ve accomplished and how we can better support you in the next year. Submitting your Progress Report will also maintain your Chapter’s active status and ensure eligibility for Chapter funding from the Open School. Be sure your voice is heard. Maybe even brag a little. Just remember to complete it by June 1!
We’re hosting a call on Thursday, May 26, from 9:00–10:00 AM (ET) to highlight exemplary work from Open School learners and leaders in Madagascar, Nigeria, and Burundi. We’ll also explore the ways our resources, courses, and Chapter Network can advance the work of students, faculty, and health professionals across the region. The call is open to all, whether you’re part of a Chapter, interested in starting one, or just took your first Open School course! Connection information is here.
