Courses

The Center for Health Innovation & Implementation Science defines Innovation as "the conversion of a new idea into a successful health care solution that provides high value for patients," and Implementation Science as "the development of tools, processes, and strategies for rapid, efficient, and sustainable adoption of evidence based practices in the real-world." This course introduces tools for designing and implementing evidence-based and innovative healthcare solutions. Over the course of one week, students will: (1) identify a problem related to patient outcomes, healthcare costs, efficiency, or safety; (2) assess existing and potential solutions to address the issue; and (3) develop and evaluate a prototype designed to solve the issue. Students will practice problem-solving, design, and inter-professional skills in a team-based setting. On-site attendance on the Evansville campus is required for this 5-day course.

Course Director: Kara Garcia
Email: karagarc@iu.edu
Phone: (812) 909-7230
Primary contact for Adds/Drops: Kara Garcia; karagarc@iu.edu
Home campus: Evansville
Type of course: On-site

Learning objectives:
By the end of this course, a student will be able to:

1. identify opportunities for quality improvement in medicine: improving patient outcomes, increasing efficiency, and/or lowering costs in healthcare (SBP2, SBP4, SBP5).
2. interact with various healthcare professionals to gain insight into an existing problem (SBP1, PBLI2).
3. find and critically examine scientific and/or medical literature, applying relevant findings to their own project (PBLI1).
4. present their findings via oral presentation (ISC5).

Course activities:
Students will spend one week going through the design sprint process. This will include short periods of lecture/instruction followed by team-based learning (~20
hours) and independent research (~20 hours). Independent research may include literature review or interviewing healthcare professionals in a clinical setting. Throughout the week, students will prepare and present their findings. At the end of the week, students will prototype and test their proposed healthcare solution.

Estimated time distribution: 50% Lecture/Seminar; 50% Library/Research

Assessments:
Deliverables (oral or written):

1. Introductory demo - 10%
2. Final solution - 10%
3. Prototype - 10%
4. Results and analysis - 10%
5. Attendance and participation - 60%

Faculty will use the Professional Development evaluation form

Prerequisites: Scholarly Concentration enrollment
Interprofessional collaboration: Students will shadow and interview a range of healthcare professionals.

This elective trains prospective medical professionals to be quality improvement leaders. Using quality improvement concepts that have been successful across a range of industries, students will identify opportunities to improve outcomes, increase efficiency, and lower costs in healthcare. The Lean approach focuses on identifying and eliminating waste, while Six Sigma offers a rigorous, data-driven approach to problem solving (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, and Control). By integrating this course with a quality improvement project, students will obtain Lean and Six Sigma Green Belt certifications. On-site attendance in Evansville is required for this course, concurrent with on-site Scholarly Concentration Project.

Course Director: Kara Garcia
Email: karagarc@iu.edu
Phone: (812) 909-7230
Primary contact for Adds/Drops: Kara Garcia; karagarc@iu.edu
Home campus: Evansville
Type of course: On-site

Learning objectives:
By the end of this course, a student will be able to:

1. describe Lean principles, citing past applications specific to healthcare (SBP4).
2. list and explain the Six Sigma tools for quality improvement, citing past applications specific to healthcare (SBP4).
3. apply Lean and Six Sigma concepts to improve outcomes, increase efficiency, and lower costs in healthcare (SBP2, SBP4, SBP5).
4. present their findings via oral presentation (ISC5).

Course activities:
Students will learn the history and theory of each concept in lecture format, which will be recorded and available online. Students will apply each concept to their quality improvement project and report back at regularly scheduled workshops for instructor and mentor feedback. Hours per week (6-week course example): 5-6 hours lecture, 5-6 hours study, 3 hour workshop

Topics:

Week 1 - Intro to Lean and Six Sigma

Week 2 - Lean, Week 3 - Define

Week 4 - Measure and Analyze

Week 5 - Improve

Week 6 - Control.

It is expected that students will simultaneously work on a quality improvement project (Scholarly Concentration Project), which will require additional effort and offer additional opportunity to implement each principle.

Estimated time distribution: 60% Lecture/Seminar; 40% Library/Research

Assessments:
Assignments and Quizzes - 50%,
Attendance and Participation - 50%

Prerequisites: Scholarly Concentration enrollment
Interprofessional collaboration: Students will work on quality improvement teams that include other health professions.