The voice of UK university faculties for nursing, midwifery and the allied health professions

Archived case study

Institute for Healthcare Improvement online courses in UG curriculum

Institution:
University of Dundee
Location:
Scotland
Intervention:
Curriculum & course developments
Profession:
Adult nurses, Children’s nurses, Mental health nurses, Nurses
Student journey stage:
1st year of pre-reg course, 2nd year of pre-reg course, 3rd year of pre-reg course, Pre-reg course

Innovation

From September 2011, the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) online courses on quality improvement, patient safety, leadership and person and family-centred care have been integrated into the undergraduate curriculum for adult, mental health and child branch nursing students. The courses have been mapped across a module which spans the three years of the curriculum and are complemented by a series of related lectures and tutorials. Students register and complete the 17 courses directly with IHI as guided by the module delivery plan. Completion of the courses is monitored and assessed via a newly introduced personal/professional portfolio which is mapped with the domains of the NHS Knowledge and Skills Framework (KSF). On completion of the courses, students have the added benefit of achieving the IHI Open School Basic Certificate of Completion. The School of Nursing & Midwifery is one of the first (if not ‘the’ first) in the UK to embed these courses into the undergraduate curriculum and to ensure that all students complete the basic certificate.

In addition to this (from September 2013), students with a particular interest/aptitude for quality and safety related work will have the opportunity to undertake a quality improvement project whilst on clinical placement in their final year of the programme. The students will be guided jointly by clinical and faculty advisors in line with the IHI Open School Quality Improvement Practicum. Completion of the Practicum project will also be linked directly with a summative assessment as part of the final year module.

Links
IHI online courses: http://www.ihi.org/offerings/IHIOpenSchool/Courses/Pages/default.aspx
IHI Practicum: http://www.ihi.org/offerings/IHIOpenSchool/Courses/Pages/Practicum.aspx

What prompted innovation?

Since 2009, nursing students have been part of the Dundee Chapter of the IHI Open School along with fellow medical students. Students were encouraged to complete the IHI online courses on a voluntary basis. Following the publication of the NHS Scotland quality strategy (Scottish Government 2010) and the increasing focus on quality and patient safety promoted through the Scottish Patient Safety Programme, the need to increase undergraduate student awareness of the emerging quality and safety agenda was clear. Around the time of the publication of the quality strategy, development of the new undergraduate programme began which afforded the opportunity to review existing teaching and explore the possibility of embedding the online courses as a core part of the curriculum. A very positive evaluation of the IHI courses by students who had previously completed them confirmed their suitability for integration into the curriculum.

Reference
Scottish Government 2010. The healthcare quality strategy for NHS Scotland. Edinburgh: NHS Scotland

What makes innovation different?

There are several interesting features of this idea:

  • The IHI courses are developed by international leaders in quality and patient safety therefore students are accessing world-class learning resources
  • The integration of the courses has allowed for a well-structured, embedded and sustained approach to the teaching of quality and patient safety
  • Students will graduate with evidence of their knowledge and skills in quality and patient safety through their personal and professional portfolio which is closely aligned with the KSF
  • All our undergraduate students achieve the IHI Open School Basic Certificate
  • We are possibly the first School to embed the courses throughout all our undergraduate curricula

Changes in practice

The integration of the IHI courses has completely changed our practice in relation to the teaching of quality and safety within the School:

  • It has allowed a shift emphasis from our previous focus on clinical governance to ‘quality, safety and governance’ and become more clearly in line with the current agenda
  • Anecdotal evidence (during tutorial sessions) shows that students are demonstrating much greater knowledge, practical application and recognition of the relevance of quality and safety activities
  • Student enthusiasm for quality and safety is growing which was recently evidenced by around 60 of our undergraduate students attending a national conference focussed on patient-centred care
  • It has promoted shared learning across the different nursing fields and has been embraced by both students and the widening group of academic staff involved in facilitating tutorial sessions

Impact

Following the first run of the year 1 module, students were surveyed on their view of the courses. The following summarises some of the results:

  • The majority found the courses informative (84%) and improved their knowledge (86%)
  • 91% found the academic level ‘just right’
  • 80% enjoyed the type of learning

In addition, student comments indicated that they could see the links between the quality and safety teaching and other parts of the curriculum and could also see clear links with the general delivery of healthcare in Scotland. This was nicely summed up by one student who stated “IHI was good….’stuff’ started to make sense and link up”

Dissemination

The initiative has been disseminated as follows: