259686 A statewide, experiential continuing education program to build workforce quality improvement capacity

Tuesday, October 30, 2012 : 10:56 AM - 11:08 AM

Greg Randolph, MD, MPH , NC Center for Public Health Quality, Raleigh, NC
     
This session will describe an innovative approach to increase workforce quality improvement (QI) expertise on a large scale, while concurrently strengthening public health practice. The NC Center for Public Health Quality developed a statewide, experiential training program in 2009 in order to address the urgent need to build QI expertise among North Carolina's 11,000 state and local public health workforce. The program was developed in partnership with the NC State University Industrial Extension Service and the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health. This continuing education program provides an 8-month longitudinal learning experience for multidisciplinary teams and their leadership by providing teaching and coaching on QI methods (Lean and Model for Improvement) and tools, how to manage change, and how to create a culture of continuous QI. Learning is enriched by the requirement that teams apply the educational content to a QI project in their agency/program. To date, 48 local health departments and 12 state programs have participated. Recently published evaluation results from the first cohort of the program reveal that upon completion, 7 of 8 QI projects supported by the program had measurable improvements, 70% of participants reported high confidence in conducting a QI project, and all participants reported sharing QI tools and methods with coworkers. Based on participant feedback, an advanced training program has been developed for graduates of this program who will serve as QI and accreditation leaders in their agency/program; the advanced program will also be described during the session.

Learning Areas:
Administration, management, leadership
Conduct evaluation related to programs, research, and other areas of practice
Public health administration or related administration
Public health or related education
Systems thinking models (conceptual and theoretical models), applications related to public health

Learning Objectives:
To demonstrate the urgent need for increasing the public health workforce capacity to apply quality improvement in daily practice To describe the key components of an effective quality improvement educational program for practice based settings To list the potential educational and practice-based outcomes that effective experiential training programs can generate

Keywords: Quality Improvement, Practice-Based Research

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am Director of the NC Center for Public Health Quality and Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Adjunct Associate Professor of Public Health at UNC-Chapel Hill. I have substantial experience in application of QI in public health settings, including advising the New York City Department of Health and the RAND Corporation on their public health QI initiatives. I also serve on the American Academy of Pediatrics' Steering Committee for Quality Improvement and Management.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

Back to: 4077.0: Practice-Based Teaching, Research, and Service