Each year, the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) seeks to engage students in medical, nursing, and other health-professions-related programs by providing scholarships for them to attend IHI programs. The intent of IHI’s scholarship program is to expose these students to the wealth of knowledge and experience from individuals and organizations that are implementing changes at the front-lines of care to improve health care safety and quality.

In addition to awarding student scholarships, needs-based scholarships and scholarships for employees of non-profit or public health care organizations that serve predominately uninsured or medically underserved populations are also offered for all major IHI conferences and training programs. Clemson University nursing students who’ve had the opportunity to attend IHI’s National Forum with the help of a scholarship share their impressions about the experience:

• “This opportunity was much more than I can articulate or summarize from the classes I went to. The networking with multidisciplinary health care professionals in the same specialty area was unbelievable.” –Julia C. Coons (Nursing Administration, 2006)
• “It was interesting to hear all the different viewpoints and solutions, no matter how wild the solution was... You could see how the collaboration with the experienced health care professionals was so helpful.” –Marian Crawford (First-year Nursing Administration, 2006)

The scholarship program helps support IHI’s ongoing work in health professions education to integrate quality improvement into educational curricula — a critical component of training future health care leaders and transforming modern medicine. Most educational programs for the health professions currently do not incorporate quality improvement methods as part of the core curricula — a troubling thought considering that these are the future professionals who will work in and lead our health care system.

Getting students interested in attending IHI’s National Forum has never been a problem. The biggest challenge is for students to raise the financial support they need to attend — that’s where the IHI scholarship program comes in. In December 2005, a group of 12 students and faculty from Clemson University’s School of Nursing and the Department of Management Operations, led by Dr. Janet Craig, attended the Forum with the help of scholarship funding from IHI. All the students were enrolled in the graduate Nursing Administration program for which Dr. Craig is lead faculty, and six had completed a course in Administration of Nursing Services focused on quality and the nurse executive role.  

As a course requirement, the Clemson students engaged in service learning experiences with South Carolina health care organizations to initiate quality and safety projects based on IHI’s methodology for breakthrough improvement. Each student also partnered with an Operations Management doctoral student to gain access to expertise in applying systems engineering concepts in the design of their projects, as well as to get experience working in interdisciplinary relationships. Student projects included initiatives such as improving community compliance with vaccination requirements; reducing blood-borne pathogen infections in patients with central lines in the ICU; and developing a proposal, currently funded by the Association of Perioperative Registered Nurses, to measure the impact of non-automated operating room processes on patient safety, operational efficiency, cost, and satisfaction. Many of the students continue to be engaged in projects related to quality and safety, with one student working on a funded grant to collaborate with staff of a new community case management program to embed quality management principles in all patient care processes at start-up.     

The Nursing Administration students who were entering into their final semester at Clemson used their National Forum experience to select their internship projects with senior administrative and director-level preceptors in health care organizations. Examples of these projects include: 1) developing a Rapid Response Team with front-line staff in one integrated health system participating in IHI’s 100,000 Lives Campaign; 2) establishing a collaborative partnership to analyze end-of-life acute care processes; 3) consulting with an interdisciplinary quality team at a small local hospital to analyze patient flow and identify improvements in the emergency department; and 4) providing education and assistance in applying the Model for Improvement to organ donation and transplantation issues for national staff at the United Network for Organ Sharing.

When Dr. Craig asked the students who attended the 2005 Forum to comment on their experience, here’s what they said:

• “I attended a particularly emotional workshop held by family members who had lost loved ones due to medical errors. Although the tales were heart wrenching, each of the participants had a unique perspective to offer and the workshop concluded with exciting examples of programs initiated by some of the panel members who are intent on preventing such events from occurring in the future. I am now more aware of national efforts to improve patient care… and I would highly recommend future attendance for anyone involved in the health care industry.” –Catherine Murton (First-year Nursing Administration, 2006)
• “To learn from national leaders by attending breakout sessions was energizing… I learned a new technique to harness creativity and innovation in strategic planning sessions… and connected with (staff of) the national organ donation initiative… Attending this conference was the highlight of the semester.”  –Melissa Blevins, Executive Director, Gift of Life, South Carolina (Nursing Administration, 2006)

According to Dr. Craig, all of the students who graduated from Clemson since attending the December 2005 Forum are now working in leadership or management positions in which they have the potential to influence future health care quality by applying what they learned at Clemson and from IHI. These graduates continue to share their knowledge and experience with current Clemson students by serving as preceptors, and they also assist in recruiting new students into the Nursing Administration program.

Because of last year’s unqualified success, Dr. Craig plans to bring another group of Clemson students to this year’s Forum. She says, “It is hard not to ‘catch the bug’ or be vaccinated for quality when one actively engages with the experts whose values align with those of us in the trenches! When faculty and students engage together in research, projects, and other innovation there is the greatest and most sustaining impact on future career goals and achievements. Graduate students who attended the National Forum last year began asking in August to attend again. This year, through the support of IHI, we are extending invitations also to RNs who have returned to school, some with many years of practice and who will be graduating in the near future. The interest in and responsiveness to opportunities to participate in education and significant quality and safety initiatives speaks, in part, to the students’ awareness of the work we need to do together to improve care and their work environments.”

Learn more about the availability of IHI scholarships for the December 2006 National Forum.

11/14/2006