Extended Event: Leading Quality Improvement: Essentials for Managers

A nine-month virtual professional development program for middle managers begins Jan. 11

Published: Monday, October 18, 2010 - 12:50

(IHI: Cambridge, MA) -- The Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) is offering a virtual professional development program for middle managers, “Leading Quality Improvement: Essentials for Managers.” This in-depth event provides 11 one-hour sessions beginning Jan. 11 through Aug. 2, 2011, plus a one-hour pre-session, “The Role of a Middle Manager” offered Nov. 23 at 1 p.m. EST. Visit www.ihi.org for the setup required to fully participate in the sessions.

Middle managers play a vital role in their organizations’ success at meeting strategic and improvement goals. They turn high-level objectives into action at the department or unit level, and are the bridge between senior leadership and the front lines. Department and unit managers need training appropriate to leading improvement initiatives. Unfortunately, many of them are unprepared due to inadequate resources and guidance.

The program, Leading Quality Improvement: Essentials for Managers, will meet this need. This nine-month, in-depth virtual program will provide middle managers with the necessary expertise required to help their organizations achieve strategic goals, nurture staff enthusiasm and commitment, and improve processes. Experts with a wealth of experience in improvement science, measurement, modeling, coaching, innovation, and making the business case will teach the skills managers need to excel in their jobs. Over the course of the program, participants will learn to better manage their portfolio of projects to meet their organization’s goals of improved outcomes and safer care.

At the end of the program, participants will be able to:

• Describe the skills, tools, and resources needed by a middle manager to lead quality improvement efforts in their local settings

• Demonstrate how to link department-level improvement activities to the organization’s goals and overall strategic plan

• List at least three ways middle managers can be successful in partnering with front-line staff in quality improvement activities

This program is for anyone who has direct reports and manages an organization's strategic goals at the microsystem or unit level.

• Directors

• Managers

• Supervisors

• Department heads

Program faculty

Jill Duncan, director of IHI’s Open School for Health Professions, is responsible for leading the strategic planning and daily operations management for the IHI Open School. In addition to this position, she is the clinical advisor to the Rival Interactive Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) Critical Decision Simulation project. She has more than 15 years of clinical nursing and education experience in a variety of acute care settings, and most recently served as the Clinical Nurse Specialist in the NICU at the Inova Fairfax Hospital for Children, where she was responsible for leading clinical improvement teams and implementing safety and improvement initiatives in complex clinical settings.

Frank A. Federico, executive director of strategic partners at IHI, works in the areas of patient safety, application of reliability principles in health care, preventing surgical complications, and improving perinatal care. He is a faculty member for the IHI Patient Safety Executive Development Program and previously co-chaired several IHI Patient Safety Collaboratives. Federico coaches teams and lectures extensively, nationally and internationally, on patient safety. He was program director of the Office Practice Evaluation Program and a loss prevention/patient safety specialist at Risk Management Foundation of the Harvard Affiliated Institutions, and director of pharmacy at Children’s Hospital, in Boston.

Enroll now for this extended event at www.ihi.org/events.

For more information on IHI programs call (617) 301-4800 or visit the www.ihi.org/IHI/Programs.

About The Author

Institute for Healthcare Improvement IHI

The Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) is an independent nonprofit organization that works with health care providers and leaders throughout the world to achieve safe and effective health care. IHI focuses on motivating the will for change, identifying and testing new models of care in partnership with patients and health care professionals, and ensuring the broadest possible adoption of best practices and effective innovations. IHI mobilizes teams and organizations through its staff and partnerships with faculty members worldwide who share the philosophy “all teach, all learn.” Founded in 1991, IHI is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts.