Certificate Program in Patient Safety & Quality

Overview

The Certificate Program in Patient Safety and Quality is run jointly by Seattle Children's Hospital and the UW Medicine Center for Scholarship in Patient Care Quality and Safety. The program builds a cadre of healthcare professionals from all backgrounds with the skills to identify gaps in and deploy improvements to the effectiveness, efficiency, equity, and value of care delivery. We encourage senior leaders to identify and send teams of participants to work on specific mission-critical improvement projects.

Before registering, please become familiar with program learning objectives, eligibility and requirements outlined below.

Key Details

• WHO: Designed for healthcare professionals and teams from all backgrounds, in any healthcare system who are beginner to intermediate in their QI knowledge and skill
• WHAT: 8-month program, consisting of 6 full-day conferences delivered over in person (with a virtual option), and work on a quality improvement project with a committed project mentor
• COST: $2,577 for UW-affiliated and Seattle Children's Hospital participants; $3,069 for participants outside of UW and Seattle Children’s Hospital
• CONTINUING ED: CME/CNE credits are available

Learning Objectives

After the Certificate Program, participants will be able to:

• Meaningfully participate in institution-wide quality improvement efforts.
• Lead local quality improvement projects.
• Disseminate their scholarly quality improvement work locally, regionally and nationally.

Participants will learn how to:

• Define and coordinate care that promotes quality, safety, value, diversity, equity, and inclusion. 
• Keep the interests of the patient and family at the center of the care conversation.
• Serve as a change leader to ensure rapid implementation of patient safety and quality interventions.
• Rigorously define and critically evaluate QI project outcomes.

Eligibility

The Certificate Program in Patient Safety and Quality is open to faculty and staff in any health-related organization, including trainees, and leaders in nursing, pharmacy, allied health, and institutional quality and safety departments. In addition to UW- and Seattle Children's Hospital-associated faculty and staff, past classes have included representatives from Providence-Swedish, Veterans Affairs, and the Seattle Fire Department. 
Teams are encouraged, with the optimal size of 3-8 people. It could be institution-based or unit or department-based and interdisciplinary. If you would like to be sent as part of an improvement team, please contact your local clinical or manager about the opportunity.

Requirements

To receive a certificate, participants are required to:

• Attend all 6 full-day conferences 
• Make a commitment of about 8 hours per month (approximately a 0.05 FTE commitment for eight months), which covers the daylong sessions and project-related work
• Identify a QI project and have a committed project mentor at the time of registration (Before registering, please read more information about project scoping and mentorship)
• Present the results of the QI project in a poster session at the end of the program
• Demonstrate adequate financial support and approved release time

The 2024-2025 mandatory daylong in-person sessions are: 

• Friday, October 11, 2024
• Wednesday, December 4, 2024
• Friday, January 31, 2025
• Tuesday, March 4, 2025 
• Wednesday, April 23 2025 
• Friday, May 16, 2025 

For local participants:  All six daylong sessions will be held in-person at Seattle Children’s Sandpoint Learning Center
There will be a virtual option for participants outside of the Seattle Metro Area or those unable to attend in person. If at all possible, please plan to attend these sessions in-person.

Curriculum

Participants learn core quality, safety, and equity principles through the daylong conferences and gain hands-on experience by implementing quality and safety projects throughout the course. At the end of the program, participants present their projects to local leadership at a poster session.

Topics covered at the daylong conferences include: 

• Principles of Quality Improvement and Patient Safety
• Disparities Related to Racism in Medicine and Society
• Local/Regional/National Landscape of Quality and Safety
• Healthcare Value
• Learning from Preventable Adverse Events 
• Applying an Equity Lens to Healthcare Improvement
• Research vs. Quality Improvement
• Error Disclosure/Risk Management/Resilience Principles
• Leadership and Change Management
• Responding to Bias and Microaggressions
• SQUIRE Guidelines for Publishing
• Information Technology and Patient Safety
• Diagnostic Error

Tuition

The tuition is $2,577 per person for UW-affiliated and Seattle Children's Hospital participants.

The rate for participants from outside the UW and Seattle Children's Hospital systems is $3,069 (figure includes overhead and credit card fee).

Regardless of which institution a participant is from, all rates are subject to a 15.6% overhead charge if not paying with a UW Accounting Worktag. Please note that SCH and VA budgets are not considered UW accounts and are subject to the overhead charge. Payments may be paid by credit card with a fee. Tuition will be charged in full on October 1, 2025 and is non-refundable. Tuition must be paid before being enrolled in the course.

The University of Washington School of Medicine is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education to provide continuing medical education for physicians. The University of Washington School of Medicine designates this live activity for a maximum of 38.25 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity. Presenters and planners in the Certificate Program in Patient Safety & Quality have no disclosures to report.