Graduate Students Discuss Healthcare Leadership with IHI Founder

Three years ago, the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) – an organization seeking to accelerate the advancement of healthcare throughout the world – started the IHI Open School for Health Professions program (IHI OS). In part, this program was created in effort to foster an “interprofessional educational community that gives students the skills to become change agents in healthcare improvement." Since its inception, IHI has seen the initiative grow into an international, student-led movement with chapters all over the world and in nearly every state in the U.S. On November 5th, the University of Michigan chapter hosted Dr. Donald Berwick, the founder and former President and CEO of the IHI, for a meeting with graduate students. School of Nursing participants included doctoral student Monica Rochman, Master’s student Brynt Shane Ellis, and nursing faculty advisor AkkeNeel Talsma.

 

The discussion’s theme was the future of healthcare quality and the roles current students and future leaders need to prepare themselves to take on. Students’ questions and discussion points centered on the history and growth of the IHI OS movement and the definition of “quality in healthcare” as innovating new processes to reduce waste and improve outcomes for patients. Throughout the conversation, Dr. Berwick emphasized the importance of maintaining a multidisciplinary core and of developing an open mind in solving problems from a multidisciplinary perspective. He believes that opportunities like the IHI OS where students from diverse disciplines have the opportunity to collaborate are necessary to cultivate a culture in which all medical fields work towards the common pursuit of improving healthcare for patients. It is this focus on the patient and their family that will direct all involved to combine their efforts, working together to address the pressing issues at hand. Dr. Berwick also discussed comparative effectiveness as a method for determining which practices work best, are the most cost effective, and contribute most to the overall healthcare environment.

 

In reflecting on the event, Dr. Talsma said, “The IHI OS U-M chapter is a very active chapter with strong student leadership that has served as a model for others. We were very honored to meet with Dr. Berwick and discuss the multipronged approach toward quality projects our chapter has taken and the involvement of numerous faculty and local leaders.”