Driving meaningful change requires healthcare leaders who can identify the key decisions necessary to turn these goals into reality. “Healthcare Quality Improvement and Decision-Making” gives you the tools to develop quality improvement initiatives and drive a culture of safety and high reliability in healthcare organizations. You'll master key concepts around quality improvement and learn to think decisively about developments within your organization, team, and healthcare more broadly. Additional key concepts include a culture of safety, where you will dive into key methodologies to ensure that, as a leader, you are developing a welcoming and innovative environment. The course features a range of activities designed to help you apply your learning, including creating project charters, analyzing errors in a healthcare case study, exploring the most efficient project management methods, and conducting a plan-do-study-act analysis. Through applied learning, case study application, and culture of safety learning, you'll sharpen your ability to question, plan, and improve quality effectively in the healthcare sector.
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Healthcare Quality Improvement and Decision-Making
This course is part of Leadership for Healthcare Professionals Specialization
Instructors: Michelle Aebersold, PhD, RN, MSBA, CHSE, FSSH, FAAN
Included with 
Recommended experience
What you'll learn
Define key quality improvement theories and best practices within healthcare organizations
Identify and use key analytical techniques commonly employed in quality science and decision-making
Employ tools to assess the culture of safety within healthcare organizations
Recognize the role of safety systems and improvement strategies, communication, and teamwork within healthcare organizations
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April 2025
9 assignments
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There are 4 modules in this course
Welcome to the Healthcare Quality Improvement and Decision-Making course and to Module 1 on the Key Quality Improvement Theories and Practices! We start our course by learning about the concept of Quality Improvement (QI). This is a crucial concept for healthcare delivery as it focuses on enhancing the effectiveness, safety, and patient-centeredness of care while maximizing resource use and ensuring better outcomes of care. Let’s get started!
What's included
5 videos8 readings2 assignments1 app item2 discussion prompts
Welcome to Module 2! In this module, we will learn about quality science decision-making tools. These are essential tools for improving quality and efficiency in healthcare. We will focus on learning how to use these tools to systematically analyze, evaluate, and enhance processes, performance, and healthcare outcomes. Let’s get started!
What's included
2 videos5 readings2 assignments1 app item
Welcome to Module 3! Creating a culture of safety within a healthcare organization is an essential foundation for the delivery of safe and high-quality care for both patients and healthcare staff. In this module, we will learn about high-reliability organizations, how they function, and what tools and resources they deploy to ensure continuous safety for those they service. Let’s get started!
What's included
5 videos8 readings2 assignments1 app item1 discussion prompt
Welcome to Module 4, our last module of the course! We will conclude our learning journey in this course by learning about safety systems and improvement strategies, communication, and teamwork, and their role in building a culture of safety within healthcare organizations. We will also start developing skills in using data and technology to assess and prevent safety incidents. Let’s get started!
What's included
5 videos3 readings3 assignments2 discussion prompts
Instructors
Offered by
Recommended if you're interested in Healthcare Management
University of Michigan
University of Michigan
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Frequently asked questions
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