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November 20, 2013
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.
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Please note: Because of the Thanksgiving holiday in the United States, the IHI Open School team will not publish a newsletter next week. Our newsletter will return on Wednesday, December 4, 2013. Have a safe and happy holiday!



Take Our Newest Course, PFC 102: A Guide to Shadowing

Even though we are all patients and have family members who are patients, as health care students and professionals, it’s easy to forget how that feels — especially when we’re overwhelmed at work, where sick people and worried relatives are  “business as usual.” Usually, we’re just trying to get through the day. But what if we stopped, even for just a moment, to look around? What improvements could we uncover?

PatientsIn the newest IHI Open School online course, created in collaboration with Dr. Anthony DiGioia, Medical Director of the Bone and Joint Center at Magee-Womens Hospital and the PFCC Innovation Center of UPMC, you’ll learn a technique that can help you step outside your usual role and gain the many advantages of being an outside observer. In just 30 minutes, we’ll show you how to do this through patient and family shadowing. You’ll learn five steps for using shadowing to better empathize with patients and families. You’ll see how empathy can help you in your daily work, and how it can drive a sense of urgency to start testing changes to improve care.

Click here to take PFC 102: A Guide to Shadowing: Seeing Care Through the Eyes of Patients and Families. Complete this course by December 31 for an entry to win an iPad mini! (See details below.)


Closing in on One Million Courses

1millioncourseOur learners have completed more than 900,000 courses in the IHI Open School since it opened in September of 2008. We’re proud, but we’ve set our sights even higher: With your help, we think we can reach one million in 2013.

To show our gratitude and celebrate our march to a million, we are giving away an iPad mini to one person who completes a course between today and December 31, 2013. Why are we giving away an iPad mini? You’ll be able to complete more Open School courses on-the-go! Every course you take will earn you one entry into our drawing. Take them all today!


What We’re Reading: ‘Letting Medical Students Run the Clinic’

“Compared to the realistic alternative, which is nothing, the community is a ton better off,” says Dr. Brent Williams, associate professor at the University of Michigan, speaking in defense of his school’s student-run clinic in a new article from The Atlantic. He’s responding to critics who argue that student-run free clinics promote a lower standard of care — and thereby do more to proliferate health disparities than to help them. “This is a great example,” Williams goes on to say, “of not making the perfect the enemy of the good.”

What do you think? Are student-run clinics the “enemy” or the “good”? Read the full article, which also features IHI Open School Chapter member Lauren Wozniak, and join the debate here.


Community Updates
WelcomeMat Welcome, New Chapters
 
University of Central Florida, Florida, US


Are You Attending the National Forum Next Month? Connect with Other Attendees on Facebook

UTCindyValerieCraigAs you begin to plan for your trip to Orlando, we invite you to join the “Students at IHI’s 25th National Forum” Facebook group. In the group, you can connect with other attendees to coordinate transportation sharing from the airport, make hotel arrangements, and arrange for things to do when you’re at the conference. Join the group today, and introduce yourself to other students who will be attending next month’s National Forum.


PSU & OHSU Chapter to Host a Health Insurance Exchange Panel

The Portland State University and Oregon Health Science University Chapter is hosting an educational event on November 21 for Chapter members to learn about health insurance exchanges and how you can use the exchange to find quality and affordable health insurance. Attendees will hear from a panel — including a representative of Cover Oregon (their state’s insurance exchange), a clinic director, a health care economist, and a health care consumer — who will share their experiences with the exchange. Learn more about the PSU & OHSU Chapter and their event here.

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