Sandra Yaich, MEd
Lehigh Valley Hospital Health Network
The Accreditation Council of Graduate Medical Education now requires Internal Medicine residency programs to train and involve residents in quality improvement (QI). Residents at Lehigh Valley Health Network (LVHN) participate in QI projects, but a formal QI curriculum does not exist and many residents do not identify current projects as QI. This study will present how to develop and implement a reliable assessment tool to measure residents' QI knowledge. The assessment tool was developed using improvement and lean concepts and QI scenarios. Faculty at LVHN who are educated and/or active in QI were involved in the development and scoring of this assessment tool to ensure the questions test essential QI knowledge. Even though it may be a hard assessment for residents at their current knowledge level, the assessment is a reliable measure for QI knowledge. The results of this assessment will be used to guide the development of the QI curriculum at LVHN. The assessment will also be used a post-assessment at the completion of QI curriculum.
