Hospitals in pursuit of excellence

Interested in advancing your skills in in patient safety, quality and performance improvement? This fellowship program is essential training.

The fellowship is a transformative learning experience consisting of four in-person learning sessions, periodic teleconferences, webinars, various self and organizational assessments and individual coaching. During the year-long program, fellows complete an action learning project to bring real change within their organizations and demonstrate their ability to apply the concepts learned.

Applications for the 2013-2014 Class are now being accepted. Please view the brochure on the left side or click here. Limited space is still available.  If you are considering applying, please contact Shawn Foster at 312-422-2933 or sfoster@aha.org

The AHA and the National Patient Safety Foundation are sponsors of this program.

Partners include: The Health Education & Research Trust, Health Forum, the American Society for Healthcare Risk Management, the American Organization of Nurse Executives and the Society of Hospital Medicine.

The fellowship framework includes a focus on foundational elements of patient safety, such as leadership roles, culture and communication, and incorporates them into four pillars of patient safety: care coordination; patient centeredness; organizational culture; and transparency and learning organization (see figure).

This curriculum is based on the 2009 paper Transforming Healthcare: A Safety Imperative from the Lucien Leape Institute of NPSF. It prepares health care leaders to guide patient safety improvement initiatives and drive transformational change within their organizations.

The year-long program offers in-person meetings, group conferencing and individual coaching and mentoring.

• Action Learning Project—  Fellows design and complete a major patient safety or quality improvement project at their organizations. Fellows are provided a mentor to guide and help advance the progress of their project.
• Learning Retreats—Four in-person meetings lasting two to three days. At each retreat, workshops, led by expert faculty, will teach fellows tools and concepts of patient safety.  The first meeting is held in conjunction with the AHA-Health Forum Leadership Summit (July) and the final retreat coincides with the NPSF Patient Safety Congress (May). Fellows attend each conference as part of the retreat.
• Webinars/Teleconferences—Three 90-minute webinars/teleconferences.
• Virtual Learning Community—A secure and dedicated site for fellows and faculty to communicate and share resources and ideas.

Fellows will gain the skills, knowledge and leadership capabilities to:

• Develop, lead and champion patient safety improvement projects as part of larger delivery system transformation efforts
• Build allies and partners to bridge organizational silos
• Develop an organization-wide commitment to safety
• Measure progress and impact of improvements and interventions

Fellows will be taught to the following patient safety topics:

• External and internal environmental factors
• Methods and strategies for identifying and preventing harm
• Human cognitive limitations and human factors theories, principles, methods and tools
• National health care reform agenda's impact on safety
• Measurement tools and methods
• Reliability science and its use in patient safety improvement
• Impact of culture on patient safety
• Teamwork and communication strategies
• Just culture and adverse event investigation
• Leadership styles  and its impact on patient safety improvement
• Effective facilitation, listening and meeting skills
• Key elements of care coordination models and programs
• Concepts and principles of patient- and family-centered care
• Evolution of transparency in health care
• Strategies to promote organizational learning
• The business case for quality and patient safety
• Principles and techniques for spreading improvement

Motivated health care leaders working in patient safety, quality, performance improvement and risk management, including:

• Senior executives
• Medical directors
• Nurse executives and managers
• Patient safety officers
• Risk managers and consultants
• Physicians
• Infection preventionists
• Pharmacy leaders
• Performance improvement leaders

Fellows demonstrate:

• Prior training and experience and/or interest in developing and implementing patient safety and quality improvement initiatives
• Vision, passion and capability to make care safer in health care organizations
• Insight, courage and evidence of a commitment to lifelong growth and development
• Capacity and willingness to learn in collaboration with other health care professionals through action, reflection, feedback and support
• Commitment (from the employing organization and individual) for the fellow's continuing employment and active engagement in the fellowship, as well as financial support for tuition and travel expenses

The action learning project is the foundation of the fellowship program.

Each fellow designs a project, tied directly to their own professional and personal priorities that will advance patient safety and quality improvement in their organization. Fellows are required to design projects to aid their organizations in transforming care.

The project goals, scope and outcomes are approved by the fellows' sponsoring organization to ensure project support and organizational commitment. Fellows must provide a final report to their organization.

Successful completion of the project is a critical component of the fellowship experience. Each fellow will be assigned a mentor and will receive additional coaching assistance from program faculty and fellowship alumni.

Organizations can send individuals or teams to participate in the fellowship. A team of leaders is an effective way to integrate and sustain the project in the organization. It is recommended that teams submit one action learning project proposal as part of the application process.

Doug Bonacum
Vice President, Quality, Safety and Resource Management
Kaiser Permanente

Richard Boothman
Chief Risk Officer
University of Michigan Health System

John Combes, MD
President and Chief Operating Officer, Center for Healthcare Governance
Senior Vice President, AHA

Jim Conway
Adjunct Lecturer
Harvard School of Public Health

Jordan Erickson
Vice President of Consulting
iplqi (Institute for Process, Leadership and Quality Improvement)

Ron Erickson
President and Founder
iplqi (Institute for Process, Leadership and Quality Improvement)

Rollin "Terry" Fairbanks, MD
Director, National Center for Human Factors Engineering in Healthcare, MedStar Institute for Innovation
Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine, Georgetown University

Rick Foster
President
FosterHicks & Associates

Scott Griffith
Chief Operating Officer
Outcome Engineering, LLC

Gerald Hickson, MD
Director, Center for Patient and Professional Advocacy, Professor of Pediatrics
Vanderbilt University Medical Center

Maulik Joshi, DrPH
President and CEO, Health Research & Educational Trust
Senior Vice President, Research, AHA

Donald Kennerly, MD
Vice President of Patient Safety and Chief Patient Safety Officer
Baylor Health Care System

Della Lin, MD
Staff Anesthesiologist, Executive Director of CME, The Queen's Medical Center
Senior Fellow in Patient Safety and Health Systems Engineering, Estes Park Institute

Diane Pinakiewicz
President
National Patient Safety Foundation

Pamela Thompson, RN
Chief Executive Officer
American Organization of Nurse Executives

Mark Williams, MD
Editor-in-Chief, Journal of Hospital Medicine
Past President, Society for Hospital Medicine
Chief, Division of Hospital Medicine, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine

Barbara Youngberg
Senior Lecturer in Residence
Loyola University School of Law

During the 2012 AHA and Health Forum Leadership Summit, held July 19-21 in San Francisco, the AHA recognized the 11th class of AHA-NPSF Comprehensive Patient Safety Leadership Fellows. One of the nation’s foremost leadership development programs in patient safety, the yearlong fellowship helps senior practitioners increase their capacity to lead patient safety improvement initiatives and accelerate positive change in their organizations.
Participants take part in a series of learning retreats and webinars, and design and implement a quality improvement initiative to improve processes and spread evidence-based safety practices in their organizations.
The program is designed to help the fellows foster a culture of safety within their organization and put newly acquired skills into practice. Throughout its history, the program has inspired senior health care practitioners and teams to promote breakthroughs in performance excellence.

Click to view each fellow's action learning project.