It’s December, the Forum is behind us (whew!), and we’re heading into our annual winter break here at IHI. Every year, the IHI office in Cambridge, MA, USA, closes for a week between Christmas and New Year’s Day. In the spirit of what we call One IHI, we all take a break together, giving everyone a chance to put work aside and return refreshed in the New Year, without an avalanche of unread email. It’s a great time to reflect back on the year in the student movement for quality and safety. It ... read full post

More and more mentally ill patients had been leaving without discharge, posing an increasing threat to themselves and the community. If you were in charge of a quality improvement team addressing this problem, what would you do?

Amanda Hobbs knows that it might sound counterintuitive to try to increase reports of adverse events at a health clinic. But Hobbs, a doctoral student in industrial engineering at Purdue University, believes this is an essential step in improving care. In her winning essay for the David Calkins Memorial Scholarship, Amanda describes her efforts to uncover errors in care delivery at the clinic where she works as a quality improvement analyst, and reflects on the challenge and potential of culture ... read full post

What role can students play in improving care? Justin Slade, fourth-year medical student at Boston University School of Medicine and former Open School Chapter Leader, recently appeared on WIHI to share his experience in health care quality improvement. As a first-year medical student, he worked on a project that helped improve care for sickle cell patients at Boston Medical Center. Below, he explains how students can help accelerate improvement.Open School What role can students play in improvi ... read full post

Duke University's Quality and Innovation Scholars Program (QISP) matches students with physicians and leaders in the Duke Health System to carry out health care improvement projects. So far, the program has reached almost 70 students. In the following interview, Chapter leaders Kathryn Hutchins and Maria Andrews explain how the Chapter got the program off the ground and how other Chapters can create their own practicum. OS How did the Quality and Innovation Scholars Program (QISP) get started? ... read full post