A University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Nursing and Health Systems Administration program received second place in the 2014 Duncan Neuhauser Curricular Innovation Award in Healthcare Improvement from the Academy for Healthcare Improvement.
Assistant Professor Rebecca S. Miltner, Ph.D., Professor Pat Patrician, Ph.D., Assistant Professor Martha Dawson, DNP, and Assistant Professor Shea Polancich, Ph.D., submitted work on the revised Master of Science in Nursing advanced quality and patient safety courses, “Bridging the Theory-Practice Gap in Advanced Quality and Patient Safety Courses.”
The theory and practicum courses emphasize the systematic, data-driven processes necessary to ensure quality and patient safety in health care organizations. The two collaborative courses teach students to identify quality improvement concerns and how to effectively implement measures to remedy them.
These courses stress the importance of “learning by doing.” Students identify a problem in their workplace in the theory course; in the practicum course they implement and analyze solutions to the problem.
“When the students finally put their projects to action, they learn real leadership skills that will test them and help them to grow in their respective fields,” Miltner said.
The Academy for Healthcare Improvement is an international, interprofessional organization with the mission to advance quality improvement in health care through scholarly and educational activities.
Miltner and Patrician accepted the award on behalf of the team at the 2014 Academy for Healthcare Improvement meeting at the Baltimore Marriott Inner Harbor at Camden Yards in May.