Quality Improvement and Patient Safety Track

Goals, Learning Objectives, & Outcome

Goals

This 24-month track will support residents & fellows to gain the knowledge, skills, and methods necessary to: (a) become leaders in healthcare system's quality and safety committees, initiatives, and activities and (b) prepare them for careers in this field.

Learning Objectives

1. To obtain knowledge in quality improvement methods
2. To apply quality improvement methods to a healthcare gap in quality
3. To identify system failures and medical errors in health systems and report them in the appropriate hospital error reporting system.

Outcome

Upon completion of the track, residents will be awarded a certificate of distinction in Quality Improvement and Patient Safety from Emory University School of Medicine.

Components

Topics and Schedule

Application Process

Participation will be restricted to residents and fellows at the PGY-2 or higher level. Applications are due in the Spring (deadline of April 30) and are open to residents or fellows who will be PGY-2 or higher level as of July 1 of the same year.

The application must include the following components:

• A personal statement describing why you would like to participate in the residency track, your interest in Quality Improvement and Patient Safety, and your expected goals and outcomes.  The personal statement should be limited to no more than 1 page.
• A brief letter of support from the Program Director. A letter of support from the applicant's program director must be included as part of the application process.  The letter should indicate support for the resident's participation in the Quality Improvement and Patient Safety track including allowing the resident to attend the required Small Group Learning sessions and EHC Quality Academy course.

Each year, please submit your application to Dr. Adam Webb no later than April 30 for consideration in the cohort starting in July. 

Name: Chidiebere Victor Ugwu

Specialty/PGY: Pediatric Emergency Medicine. PGY-5

Interests: Improving processes, workflow and quality of care delivered in the pediatric emergency department with specifics on admission, discharge, transition of care processes and clinical pathway development. I also have interest in providing quality and patient safety education globally to medical organizations and hospitals in both underdeveloped and developed countries.

Name: Jennifer Handan Li

Specialty/PGY: Internal Medicine PGY-2

Interests: What I look forward to the most throughout my day is seeing my patients and being able to utilize whatever tools and resources are at my disposal to help them – in larger, systemic-based ways or even smaller ones. I have discovered that what I get most frustrated by are the systems-related issues that affect us as trainees and providers from providing the quality and efficiency of care we strive for and of course for our patients. I am interested in encouraging and enforcing patient safety and improvement through medical education and helping improve systemic inefficiencies in the healthcare system, especially in the inpatient setting. My goals are to be able to develop and merge my passion for patient safety and improving systems to enhance patient-cared care with the educational aspects that I believe are important in carrying forward new changes.

Name: Matthew Gillen

Specialty/PGY: Neonatology PGY-5

Interests: neonatal nephrology, situational awareness, process improvement in the neonatal intensive care unit

Name: Christian Gomez 

Specialty & PGY: Radiology, PGY3 

Interest: Interested in referral provider patterns with regards to delivering high quality diagnostic care, optimizing imaging workflows, and healthcare equity in the radiology space. 

Name: Megan Fellows  

Specialty & PGY: Pediatrics PGY-2 

Interest: My current quality improvement and patient safety interests include resident/provider perceptions of patient safety in a teaching environment as well as provider-nursing communication challenges that impact patient safety, quality of care, nurse-provider relationships, and workflow. 

Name: Yael Subar

Specialty & PGY: Child Neurology PGY-5 

Name:  Mary Margaret Barr

Specialty & PGY: Pediatrics PGY-2 

Specific Interests in Quality/Patient Safety: Interested in medication safety and patient education, especially for children and adolescents with chronic medical conditions. 

Name: Hope Arnold

Specialty: Neonatology Fellow PGY-5 

Specific Interests: Improving transitions of care, discharge of medically complex infants, improving neurodevelopmental outcomes, health equity

Name:  Monika Sullivan

Specialty and current PGY level: Pediatrics, PGY-2

Specific Interests in Quality/Patient Safety: Optimizing patient safety and outcomes in an equitable way is one of the primary goals in practicing medicine. I have a particular interest in analyzing variations in inpatient management and determining when standardized protocols can improve the quality of care. I also have an interest in improving the discharge process, specifically ensuring timely and productive outpatient follow-ups to prevent readmissions or complications.

Name:  Domnique S. Newallo

Specialty & PGY: Radiology resident  PGY5/R1

Specific Interests in Quality/Patient Safety: Resident education in QI, Process improvement in the radiology space

Name:  Mustafa Rasheed 

Specialty & PGY: Emergency Medicine PGY-2 

Specific Interests in Quality/Patient Safety: Quality improvement and patient safety in patients through ED workflows, lab work and testing, sepsis, and emergencies that require collaboration with other services/providers  

Name: Zachary Wolner

Specialty/PGY: Dermatology PGY-4

Interests: medical education in quality improvement, clinicopathologic correlation, systemic inefficiencies in healthcare delivery

Name: Krysta Frye

Program: Internal Medicine- Primary Care track

Interests:  2020 was a year that changed healthcare forever. Systems, providers, and patients quickly adopted and adapted to virtual medicine, which was wildly successful for certain outpatient services and could become a mainstay of their care. My QI interests involve virtual medicine analyses, and I am thankful that this GME track will help to hone my research skills and connect me with likeminded individuals. 

Name:  Nicole Herbst

Specialty and current PGY level: Pulmonary/Critical Care, PGY6

Specific Interests in Quality/Patient Safety: medical education, patient/family experience in the ICU

Name: M. Ehsaan Shahnawaz 

Specialty: PGY-5 Pediatric Neurology Resident

My special interests in quality improvement and patient safety are based around improving patient outcomes by improving system processes, rather than focusing on novel treatments, therapies, or diagnostics, because system processes can be implemented immediately and benefit patients, instead of relying upon basic science research which can take years to be ready for practical application. I have begun work on a project with Dr. Ben Siegel (PGY-4 in Pediatric Neurology) on improving effective and efficient management of Status Epilepticus in the CHOA system during our first year in this quality improvement education track.

Name: Shub Shanti Agrawal

Specialty: Internal Medicine, PGY 3

Interested:  Medical education and QI 

Name: Benjamin Siegel

Specialty: Pediatrics/Neurology

QI-PS Interests:

Electronic health systems are powerful tools that increase efficiency and patient safety. However, they can also propagate errors and create undue administrative burden. My QI interest is in using health information technology to optimize the care we provide to patients. In particular, I am interested in how clinical decision support tools can promote evidence-based practice while minimizing alert fatigue.

Name: Lisa Tang

Specialty: Anesthesiology

QI-PS Interests:

The perioperative encounter is typically short but characterized by numerous transitions of care. There are countless opportunities to improve patient safety and quality before, during, and after surgery. I am particularly interested in pre-operative care. My goal for the QI-PS track is to identify ways in which the pre-op visit can be optimized to improve surgical outcomes. 

Name: Abdulatif Gari

Specialty: Emergency Medicine

Name: Christie Chen

Specialty: Pediatrics

Name: Devinder Dhindsa

Specialty: Cardiology Fellow

Name: Erin Fitzpatrick Kallam

Specialty: Pediatrics

Name: Joyce Kim

Specialty: Internal Medicine

Name: Karla Dawson

Specialty: Rollins School of Public Health Student (Audit)

Name: Louisa Phillips

Specialty: Anesthesiology

Name: Tim Jorgenson

Specialty: Anesthesiology

Name: Christopher Michael Haydek

Specialty: Internal Medicine

QI-PS Interests:

Part of the intrigue of QI-PS is the vast amount of information that advancements in technology have yielded us, making way for continual improvement in efficiency and patient outcomes. I am drawn to this constant opportunity for progress which translates into tangible results for patients.

Name: Cicily Vachaparambil

Specialty: Internal Medicine

QI-PS Interests:

I have an interest in transitions of care between the inpatient and outpatient settings, specifically improving communication and coordination between providers to ensure recommended follow-up procedures and office visits are completed.

Name: Alexandra Grace Nicole Lopez-Aguiar

Specialty: Surgery

Name: Amanda Renee Ross

Specialty: Emergency Medicine

Name: Anita S. Deshpande

Specialty: Otolaryngology

Name: Mariam Amin

Specialty: Dermatology

Name: Mohamad Raad

Specialty: Internal Medicine

QI-PS Interests:

To ensure excellent patient care we should always strive to improve the healthcare system. The latter as it exists includes many gaps and insufficiencies in the method, quality and outcomes of the care provided. My goals from the Quality Improvement and Patient Safety Track is to build a solid understanding, knowledge, skills, and methods in the implication of Quality improvement patient safety projects to identify failures and improve in-patient resource utilization and outcomes.

Name: Steve Tucker

Specialty: Ophthalmology

QI-PS Interests:

Name: Vanessa Cousins

Specialty: Emergency Medicine

QI-PS Interests:

In addition to improving workflow, efficiency, and patient centered care as components of quality improvement, I am also drawn to learning to become a resilient and compassionate leader. I am captivated by the utilization of technology to improve patient centered care and bring the healthcare process back to the patient’s bedside

Name: Anna Trofimova

Specialty: Diagnostic Radiology

Name: Chengcheng "Cindy" Ye

Specialty: Internal Medicine

Name: Jake Gissy

Specialty: Anesthesiology

Name: Maria Braileanu

Specialty: Diagnostic Radiology

Name: Martine "Lory" Camille Ridore

Specialty: Emergency Medicine

Name: Vicky Melanson

Specialty: Anesthesiology