As the academic year comes to a close for many of our North American students, we’ve been getting all sorts of updates about what they’ve been up to this spring. To celebrate their achievements and highlight some great ideas you can bring to your own location, here’s a look at what (and how) innovative Chapters are learning about quality improvement and patient safety on campuses across the United States and Canada:

Alaska

Faculty and experts taught health science students at the University of Alaska Anchorage Chapter about the Affordable Care Act at an event last month. The session included discussions of the Healthcare.gov website, insurance options, and legal and policy implications of the Act, and more.

British Columbia, Canada

The University of British Columbia and Simon Fraser University Chapters collaborated to provide an interactive event featuring a panel of local health leaders from the Greater Vancouver area. The event succeeded in bringing together a variety of perspectives on various health topics, facilitating learning and engagement for both the speakers and the audience.

California

Last month, students at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) Chapter heard professor and Vice Dean of Education, Dr. Catherine Lucey, speak about how to reduce diagnostic errors and the “common cognitive causes that turn activities into errors.” Read more about their event in the UCSF student newspaper.

Maine

Students from the University of New England (UNE) Chapter, part of the Interprofessional Student Advisory Team at UNE, joined competitors from 11 other universities in Minnesota this April for the national CLARION Case Competition. Although the team did not win the elite event, they were proud to qualify for it and to have the chance to represent their university and the UNE IHI Open School Chapter.

Massachusetts

Earlier this month, students from Boston area Chapters — including Boston College, Suffolk University, Harvard University, and MGH Institute of Health Professions — joined the IHI Open School team at IHI’s Cambridge office to participate in a QI activity and learn about leading QI teams. IHI CEO and President, Maureen Bisognano, led the students in “Friday Night at the ER,” a game that introduces the principles of systems thinking, process improvement, and redesign. Open School Academic Advisor Dr. James Moses then led a discussion about leading QI teams.

In the Greater Boston area, the Worcester State University Chapter recently hosted a viewing of “The Waiting Room,” a 2012 documentary film highlighting issues such as underinsurance, changes in health policy, and misunderstanding of the use of ERs. The group followed the screening with a discussion of the issues raised by the film, including how different programs are taking innovative action against these problems.

Ontario, Canada

This month, the Brock University Chapter held its 2nd Annual Quality Symposium, which showcased 14 quality improvement projects — part of the Interprofessional Education for Quality Improvement Program (I-EQUIP) program — with the goal of inspiring innovation for health quality. I-EQUIP was created in 2010 to engage students and health professionals through education and applied experience to improve health care quality.

Pennsylvania

The Penn State University Chapter hosted its 3rd Annual Patient Safety Symposium last month and had a huge turnout of diverse members from the community. The event included education about basic concepts in patient safety, a standout speaker who was the mother of a patient who experienced a medical error, and — based on the mother's story — an activity to practice completing incident reports.

Tennessee

The Rhodes College Chapter celebrated the end of a productive year by acknowledging and rewarding members who had earned the IHI Open School basic certificate. The event provided a networking opportunity and encouraged new members to join the Chapter in the fall.

Washington

The University of Washington Chapter held an interdisciplinary networking event this month to give students a chance to learn about their respective degree programs, scopes of practice, experience with leadership and QI, and challenges they’ve each faced in team-based environments.

Want to add your Chapter’s creative undertakings or impressive accomplishments to our next roundup? Whatever continent you’re on and whatever you’re up to, we’d love to hear from you at openschool@ihi.org!