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.
Told at the right time and in the right place, patient stories can be incredibly powerful. But when is the right time? And where is the right place? In this Open School video short, IHI’s Director of Public and Patient Engagement, Martha Hayward, shares some storytelling strategies gathered from years of work with patients and families. Learn more about using patient stories to drive improvement in our course PFC 102: A Guide to Shadowing: Seeing Care Through the Eyes of Patients and Families.
As a nurse in critical care and operating rooms, Don Tyson saw his share of safety issues. Today, he’s a professor of nursing at Eastern Mennonite University, and he uses the Open School courses in his classes on leadership, patient safety, and quality improvement. In a new Q&A on our blog, Professor Tyson shares some tips on teaching quality and safety and explains why he believes these skills are critical to health care leadership. Learn more about the using IHI Open School courses in the curriculum here.
Is your “active-listening face” coming off to your colleagues as a look of irritation? Most people believe their intentions are clear to others, but social psychologists say that’s rarely the case. “There’s a big gap between how other people see us and how we see ourselves,” says researcher Heidi Grant Halvorson of Columbia Business School. An article in The Atlantic explores the quirks that create “mixed signals” and cause people to misunderstand each other and offers tips for making yourself more clearly understood. Learn more in our one-hour course, PS 103: Teamwork and Communication.
Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, will hold its annual quality and safety conference on Thursday, May 14, from 4:00–7:00 PM. This year, the event will focus on practical considerations for setting up and running clinical quality improvement projects — including ethical considerations, integrating the Electronic Medical Record, and fulfilling Maintenance of Certification requirements. IHI Vice President Katharine Luther will be among the presenters. Click here to learn more about the event, or email Regional Leader Jake Reynolds at sw.ihi.openschool@gmail.com.
