Safety, Quality, Informatics, and Leadership

The interactive lectures and webinars that encompass SQIL’s curriculum include timely themes and subjects:

Patient Safety

• Developing a Hospital Program in Patient Safety
• Safety Event Reporting
• Root Cause Analysis and Action 2 (RCA2)
• Hospital Acquired Conditions and Serious Reportable Events
• Creating a Culture of Trust: Key to Patient Safety
• Communication with Patients After Things Go Wrong
• A Trainee Curriculum in Quality and Safety
• Human Factors in Healthcare

Quality Improvement

• Developing a Hospital Program in Quality
• DMAIS: Continuous Quality Improvement Model
• Lean Fundamentals
• Actively Managing Hospital Assets through Analytics and Leadership
• Patient Centered Health Care Organizations: The Key to Quality and Safety
• Population Health Management
• The Crisis of Racism in Health Care: COVID and Beyond
• Complex Care Management for High-Risk Ambulatory Patients

Informatics

• Basics of Clinical Databases: Introduction to Databases
• Querying, Joining, and Designing a Database
• Diagnosing Defects, Databases to Know About, and Emerging Trends
• The Design or Architecture of Health Information Systems
• The Usability of an HER
• Clinical Design Support for Improving Quality and Safety
• Introduction to Public Health Informatics
• Introduction to Health Information Infrastructure

Leadership

• Leadership Overview
• Introduction to Leadership
• Our Basic Needs
• Leadership Styles
• Servant Leadership
• Motivation
• Lifestyle Medicine for Leaders

• Implications of AI for health equity
• Significant Studies in Clinical Informatics
• Trends in health care technology
• How can Safety Science assist us to understand/improve health care quality
• Infrastructure and the Learning Health System
• Starting Up a Learning Health System
• Learning Health System Networks
• Conducting Root Cause Analysis
• Medication Safety
• Patient Engagement Strategies to Reduce Harm in Health Care
• Health Equity
• Clinical Pathways
• Exchanging Clinical Data Electronically: Progress and Remaining Challenges
• Essential Requirement of a Comprehensive Health Information Technology Evaluation and Monitoring Function at the Local or National Level
• Emerging Technologies, Business Models, and Policies that Could Speed Interoperability
• Integrating New Data Sources to Improve Population Health
• Adaptive Leadership

• Workshop 1:
  • This first workshop will articulate the key principles of the Learning Health System, create understanding on how safety, quality, informatics and leadership serve as the backbone of the LHS and recognize the interrelationships between how leadership, policy and research align with a Learning Health System.
• Workshop 2:
  • The second workshop will continue to explore core ideas covered in the ‘Laying the Foundations’ workshop, develop an in-depth appreciation of the fundamental importance of informatics and data science in transforming healthcare, build and practice leadership skills that are adaptive and influential,  and provide insights into career development and advancement.
• Workshop 3:
  • The final workshop will synthesize learnings from the SQIL (Safety, Quality, Informatics, and Leadership) program and apply them to your work, build and enhance a strong leadership culture during the Era of COVID-19 and beyond, and better prepare yourself professionally in the healthcare industry
  • A formal dinner followed by a graduation ceremony will take place at the end of the third workshop in Boston.

To convey a sense of the scope of inquiry and innovation demonstrated by recent Safety, Quality, Informatics and Leadership program participants, here are the titles of some recently completed capstone projects:

• Reducing patient waiting times in the outpatient departments: A strategy to improve health care quality
• Decreasing length of stay in the emergency department by optimizing radiology throughput
• Process optimization to improve operating room efficiency by reducing day of surgery cancellation
• Reducing inappropriate hospitalization for patients with acute lower extremity deep venous thrombosis
• NeoGuide: Digital clinic guideline and decision support platform for neonatal intensive care
• Introduction of a streamlined care pathway and stewardship for the management of trial of labor after cesarean section
• Supporting care at home for end stage COPD patients; development of an extended care paramedic protocol
• Reducing gaps in caregiver knowledge and awareness on transmission-based precautions (TBPs) for their hospitalized children
• Reducing workplace injuries through early identification and personalized care plans for patients with responsive behaviors due to dementia
• Improving nurse’s awareness rate on the patient’s condition

All participants must complete the following academic and attendance requirements in order to be granted a Certificate of Completion from Harvard Medical School.

Attendance at Workshops and Webinars

•  Learners are required to attend and actively engage in all workshops.
• Learners may be required to attend live, interactive webinars scheduled in between workshops. If a learner cannot attend due to an occasional scheduling conflict, it may be possible to complete an alternative assignment.

Successful Completion of Assignments

•  Learners are required to complete and submit on time and receive passing grades on course-related assignments. These may include quizzes, exams and individual or team-based assignments.

To prepare your application for submission, please have the following documents available:

• Current contact information and credentials: This information is required for the online application.
• Curriculum vitae/résumé/list of awards or publications: You will be prompted to upload either your CV or résumé (.doc, .pdf).
• Written statement: Please provide a 250-500 word explanation as to why you would like to be considered for this program. Please note, you may be asked for additional information to support of your submission. All program specific requirements can be found within the application.*
• Letter of recommendation: The recommender must be a department/division head/director/chair or supervisor. The letter should be dated within 12 months of the application submission date and should address your suitability for the program and support your attendance at the workshops. Please note: The letter of recommendation may be submitted at a later date, but it is required for your application to be considered.

There is no application fee for this program.

*Your personal statement is an opportunity for the admissions committee to hear your voice. We strongly discourage the use of generative AI technologies, like ChatGPT, in your application essay. If an essay does use generative AI, then it must be acknowledged. If an essay is suspected to have used one of these tools without attribution or in its entirety, we reserve the right to deny your admission to the program or request that you submit a new essay in order to be considered.

We will acknowledge receipt of all applications and maintain all application information in strict confidence.

Students can expect to hear a decision on their application within four to six weeks from the date all application materials were submitted. Payment Plans are available for this program. Please contact the Admissions and Enrollment Services Team to learn more.