Content Overview

This course introduces participants to the global context for quality improvement including quality management frameworks, quality improvement principles and health care quality and safety evaluation mechanisms and tools. Using practical exercises and case studies, participants work individually and together to identify and design context-specific, sustainable, resilient quality improvement initiatives in middle- and low-income countries. A two-day skills development workshop strengthens individual and team skills in evaluating the quality of health care services. This course is a collaboration between the Heidelberg Institute of Global Health and the German International Cooperation (GIZ).

Course Topics

• Major steps and trends in the healthcare quality and patient safety movements
• Quality management and patient safety principles, mechanisms and tools and their contextual relevance
• Leadership and managing healthcare quality including ethical and cultural aspects
• Leading teams to use quality management tools
• Healthcare quality evaluation mechanisms in low and middle income contexts
• Quality management case study set in a middle-income country and assessment tool to critically evaluate quality
• Skills development in healthcare quality evaluation
• Critical review of quality management mechanisms in German healthcare facilities
• Implementing healthcare quality management mechanisms and tools in low and middle income countries
• Designing and sustaining a healthcare quality management framework in a low or middle income country or regional context.
• Internet resources, publications and grey literature for healthcare quality management

Learning Objectives

By the end of the module the participants should be able to:

• Appraise recent developments and challenges in assuring healthcare quality in low and middle income countries.
• Critically analyse international healthcare quality management and patient safety mechanisms and their global transferability.
• Differentiate roles of stakeholders in managing healthcare quality improvement initiatives and activities both locally and globally.
• Design a framework for strengthening healthcare quality in their country or region using key quality improvement principles and mechanisms.
• Apply personal and team skills to lead the use of quality management tools and mechanisms in their setting.