5 credits
A lack of quality service in healthcare, including medical errors, unnecessary surgery, and neglect, accounts for preventable deaths and a continual increase in the cost of delivery. Students in this course explore major quality and safety issues within healthcare organizations. They also examine methods of assessing quality and techniques to improve quality as well as opportunities to prevent adverse and never events, devoting special attention to the 5 Million Lives Campaign. Students examine current requirements for reporting indicators of quality and pay-for-performance initiatives to reward quality. They analyze weekly topics and share perspectives through discussions and case studies on critical issues, such as medical error, the patient perspective, quality and safety measurement, and improvement approaches, among others.