Patient safety and medicines
Using the Model for Improvement, PDSA cycles, run charts and practice audit to make measurable, lasting change in US health care
U.S. licensed health professionals: physicians, PAs, nurses and APRNs, pharmacists, dentists and dental hygienists and other licensees who lead, join or are measured by improvement and audit work.
Structured learning and a written reflection to show insight after a complaint, an investigation or a board inquiry.
Focused learning on a core standard of practice, with a certificate and reflection for your portfolio.
This course teaches the practical methods of quality improvement (QI) and clinical audit used in US health care. It covers the definition of quality and the six aims, Donabedian's model, and how QI differs from quality assurance, audit, root cause analysis and research; the Model for Improvement, aim statements, process maps, driver diagrams and PDSA cycles; outcome, process and balancing measures, operational definitions, sampling, run charts and control charts; the clinical audit cycle, criteria, standards, re-audit, OPPE and FPPE; and the federal and professional programs that require or reward improvement, including CMS QAPI rules for hospitals and nursing homes, MIPS improvement activities, ABMS continuing certification, QSEN, PQA and Dental Quality Alliance measures.
It is written for physicians, PAs, nurses and APRNs, pharmacists, dentists and dental hygienists and allied licensees in any state and any setting, from large hospitals to small practices, community pharmacies and dental offices. Cases are set across states including Wisconsin, Kansas, Arizona, Georgia, Florida, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Montana, Indiana, Iowa, Ohio, Texas, California, Maryland, Washington and New Mexico, and the final lesson follows a complete personal practice improvement project from aim to re-audit.
QI is now part of what US health care expects of every licensee, through Medicare Conditions of Participation, payment programs, board certification and professional codes. When a concern is raised about practice, measurable improvement is also among the most convincing evidence of insight and remediation. This course goes beyond this site's courses on root cause analysis and risk management by focusing on improvement science, measurement and audit, and on the ethical and legal handling of QI work, including the line between QI and research.
10 sections · 24 lessons · 3 hours · 20-question final assessment
Final assessment
20scenario-based questions
Certificate of completion
Certificate of completion. Not CE or CME credit unless accepted by your board.
The course includes a structured reflective account template: guided prompts to record what you learned, how you will apply it and how the change will show in your practice. It gives you written evidence of insight after a concern, and a ready record for your learning portfolio.
Write it in your own words and leave out anything that could identify a patient, a colleague or a case. If you have an open complaint or case, talk to your adviser before reflecting on it in writing.
Clinical audit measures practice against explicit criteria and standards, then re-audits after change. Quality improvement uses methods such as the Model for Improvement and PDSA cycles to test changes and learn quickly. The course explains how they fit together and how both differ from quality assurance, root cause analysis and research.
The rules help you spot non-random signals: a shift (six or more consecutive points above or below the median), a trend (five or more points all going up or down), too many or too few runs, and an astronomical data point. The course shows how to apply them and when a control chart is more appropriate.
When it becomes research, meaning a systematic investigation designed to produce generalizable knowledge. The course applies OHRP guidance on the boundary between QI and research, HIPAA rules on health care operations and the limits of peer review and patient safety protections for QI data.
It can. Measurable improvement in your own practice is some of the strongest proof of insight and remediation you can offer, provided it is genuine and well documented. The last lesson walks one personal improvement project all the way from its aim to the re-audit, ready for you to adapt.
About three online hours for $89, with cases from many settings. Checks per section, a final of 20 questions (16 to pass), then a certificate and a reflection built around your own improvement project. MOC, MIPS or CE credit is not claimed.
Every legal and regulatory point comes from primary sources: state practice acts and board rules, federal law and national professional codes of ethics. Anything we cannot confirm is left out.
Lessons, scenarios and assessment questions are written by us for each edition separately, then checked for accuracy, teaching quality and fair assessment before publication.
When a code, standard or law changes, the affected courses are reviewed and updated. Reported errors in legal or regulatory facts are corrected first.
The RCA² method step by step: prioritization, chartering, interviews, flow diagrams, causal statements, the action hierarchy and measured follow-up.
Proactive risk management for licensees: hazards, likelihood and severity, FMEA, stronger controls, escalation and high-risk clinical domains.
From board letter to end of probation: root-cause analysis, a testable remediation plan, monitors and audits, and an organized remediation portfolio.
