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.
When we talk about the importance of end-of-life planning, we’re not usually thinking about millennials. But in a new blog post for The Conversation Project, Willamina Hadley, a college student at Northeastern University, argues that important conversations about death and dying should happen early in life, on college campuses. For example, in many places adults who are 18 or older need to formally name a health care proxy — even if the proxy is a parent. Learn more in the Open School course PFC 202: Having the Conversation: Basic Skills for Conversations about End-of-Life Care.
You can tell a patient to eat healthier. You can do one better, and send that person home with some instructions. Or, you can do what the Children’s Hospital of San Antonio’s CHEF program does: Invite parents and children into the kitchen to learn how to shop for, prep, and make nutritious meals. The New York Times reports on innovative programs changing how clinicians teach patients about nutrition, including medical schools introducing culinary curriculums. Learn more about community programs that improve health in TA 101: Introduction to the Triple Aim for Populations.
Project-based learning is an essential pillar of the IHI Open School. Why? Because taking some online courses and joining a local Chapter is just the beginning — learning the skills to improve health care requires real-world practice. Because it’s not always easy to find opportunities to apply your learning, a new blog post offers advice from three Open School Chapters. Chapters from the University of Vermont, Duke University, and the University of Michigan share their recommendations and their email addresses — feel free to reach out to them directly for help!
