Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2025 Feb 6;25(1):193.
doi: 10.1186/s12909-025-06709-7.

Integrating a quality improvement experiential platform into medical student education

Amy S Stanley  1 , René M Kronlage  2 , Miranda J Reid  2 , Hannah G Rains  2 , Colleen J Kalynych  3 , Michele N Lossius  4 , Janice A Taylor  5 , Carolyn K Holland  6
Affiliations

Integrating a quality improvement experiential platform into medical student education

Amy S Stanley et al. BMC Med Educ. .

Abstract

Background: The call for quality improvement and patient safety (QI/PS) education has increased at every level of medical education. Here, the authors present a QI/PS experiential platform implemented at the University of Florida College of Medicine (UFCOM). The project established a peer-taught hands-on learning platform in a student-run clinic allowing participants to learn and apply QI/PS concepts and tools in a real-world clinic environment. The aims were to assess students' perceptions in regard to (1) student confidence in quality improvement (QI) methodology, and (2) competency in executing QI initiatives in healthcare as measured by a post-participation survey.

Method: A medical student-led quality improvement team was embedded within University of Florida's (UF's) existing student-run clinic network. The QI/PS student-team collaborated with clinic leaders and utilized QI/PS tools to establish, monitor, and expand impactful Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycles. The impact of the training was then evaluated using The New World Kirkpatrick Model leveraging a post-project survey which included the Beliefs, Attitudes, Skills, and Confidence in Quality Improvement (BASiC-QI) survey and questions on overall student perceptions.

Results: This project demonstrated positive results in all four levels of Kirkpatrick evaluation: (1) Reaction, (2) Learning, (3) Behavior, and (4) Results. This was shown through (1) a voluntary feedback survey that reported positive feedback from participants with 93% of respondents indicating they "strongly agreed" or "agreed" to positive perception questions; (2) significantly higher scores (p < 0.001) on the BASiC-QI Scale for project participants vs. non-participants; (3) the completion of 4.25 PDSA cycles per QI team; and (4) a 10.1% reduction in median patient time in clinic.

Conclusions: This study supports the utility of incorporating a student-led QI/PS interactive platform into student-run clinics to increase knowledge and attitude in implementing QI/PS endeavors while simultaneously improving clinic metrics and outcomes for patients.

Keywords: Equal access clinic; Free clinic; Medical education; Patient safety; Quality improvement.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Consent for publication: Not applicable. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Diagram of experiential curriculum implementation
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Equal Access Clinic Network Run Chart, excluding weeks that did not have data from all four clinics (weeks 1, 4, 5, 6, 10, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 19, 21)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Wong BM, Ackroyd-Stolarz S, Bukowskyj M, et al. The CanMEDS 2015 patient safety and quality improvement expert working group report. Ottawa: The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. 2014. http://www.royalcollege.ca/rcsite/canmeds/patient-safety-ewg-report-e. Accessed 20 Sept 2023.
    1. Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education. Common program requirements. 2022. http://www.acgme.org/What-We-Do/Accreditation/Common-Program-Requirements. Accessed 20 Sept 2023.
    1. Peiris-John R, Selak V, Robb G, et al. The state of quality improvement teaching in medical schools: a systematic review. J Surg Educ. 2020;77:889–904. - PubMed
    1. Association of American Medical Colleges. Quality improvement and patient safety competencies across the learning continuum. AAMC New and Emerging Areas in Medicine Series. 2019. https://www.aamc.org/data-reports/quality-improvement-and-patient-safety.... Accessed 18 Sept 2023.
    1. Walton M, Woodward H, Van Staalduinen S, et al. The WHO patient safety curriculum guide for medical schools. BMJ Qual Saf. 2010;19:542–6. - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources