Weekly Newsletter: An Improved Course, Teamwork to Fight Error, and a Free West Coast Conference

It shouldn’t surprise you that we take self-improvement seriously here at the Open School. Not only do we take your feedback to heart, but it’s also an integral part of our process for updating courses — something we do regularly to keep the content fresh. Our latest project? We’ve just finished updating QI 104: The Life Cycle of a Quality Improvement Project. In the 2015 release of this course, you’ll find new elements that our learners asked for: updated examples, more videos, and new resources related to developing and spreading good ideas. (For example, check out the Improvement Project Roadmap and the New Idea Scorecard in Lessons 1 and 2). Explore the revised course today.

Eva Luo is an MD/MBA candidate and an Open School student who’s spending a month with Iora Health in Las Vegas. Working at a radically redesigned primary health clinic, Eva is working to improve diabetes management as part of the Open School’s new program, the Improvement Change Agent Network (I-CAN). “With a greater emphasis on primary care, the team can prevent costly emergency room visits and hospital admissions,” Eva writes in her first dispatch. “Most of all, it creates happy patients and happy clinicians!" Follow Eva’s adventure on our blog as she implements her project.

Medical students working in pairs are more likely to make the right diagnosis than students working alone, according to a new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Researchers studied fourth-year medical students who worked in pairs or alone, and found that the pairs reached the right diagnosis 18 percent more often. "We need to be providing students and trainees the skills to collaborate,” said Amy Starmer, MD, a lecturer in pediatrics at Harvard Medical School. Read more in MedPage Today, and brush up on your skills in our course PS 103: Teamwork and Communication.

The Harvard Medical Student Review, co-founded by Jay Kumar, a former IHI Open School Chapter Leader, has just released its second issue. The online, student-run journal features original research, perspective pieces, artwork, and more. Check it out here, and consider submitting your writing to the Review (non-Harvard students are welcome to submit) or another one of the student-led journals we’ve compiled for you in our Writer’s Corner.

Are you a student on the “Best” Coast? Do you love quality improvement and food trucks? Register now for free to attend the very first IHI Open School West Coast Regional Conference, April 17–18, 2015, in Portland, Oregon. The Portland State University and Oregon Health & Science Open School Chapters and the IHI Open School West Coast Region are hosting this dynamic learning event, which will also allow plenty of time for networking and sampling local food and drink. Learn more and sign up today.

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