Innovations Integrating Quality Improvement and Continuing Professional Development at an Academic Medical Center: A Partnership Between Practice Plan, Hospital, and Medical School Barbara Gold, MD; Dawn England, MPH; William Riley, PhD; Ginny Jacobs-Halsey, MEd; Corinne Webb, MS; Bobbi Daniels, MD Introduction: While quality improvement (QI) initiatives can be a highly effective means for improving health care delivery in academic medical centers (AMCs), many health care professionals are not formally trained in basic QI methodology, engaging clinicians in QI activities can be challenging, and there is often a lack of integration and coordination among QI functions (eg, Departments of Quality and Safety, Continuing Professional Development). In our AMC, we undertook a collaborative approach to achieve better vertical and horizontal integration of our QI education efforts. This article provides a case example describing our organizational context, what was done, and with what effect and makes our example and lessons learned available to others. Methods: We developed a new educational QI program that was jointly planned and implemented by a group comprising major QI stakeholders. This project was intended to create horizontal organizational linkages between continuing professional development, clinicians, the hospital, and QI department and produce QI activities that aligned with the strategic objectives of senior management. Results: The group developed and implemented a curriculum based on Lean methodology and concepts from the Institute for Health Care Improvement Model for Improvement. Two cohorts (27 teams) completed the training and planned and implemented QI projects. All projects were aligned with organizational quality, safety, and patient experience goals. The majority of projects met their aim statements. Discussion: This case description provides an example of successful horizontal integration of an AMCs’ QI functions to disseminate knowledge and implement meaningful QI aligned with strategic objectives (vertical integration). Keywords: quality improvement, academic medical center, clinician training, strategic quality initiatives, continuing professional development, collaboration, organization learning and change, performance improvement, quality improvement/six sigma/lean, strategic issues in CME/CPD, strategic DOI: 10.1097/CEH.0000000000000118 W hile quality improvement (QI) initiatives can be a highly effective means for improving health care delivery in academic medical centers (AMCs), they require the active and knowledgeable participation of individual clinicians and clinical teams as change agents in the process of improvement. 1–3 Physicians and clinical staff are at the “sharp end” of health care delivery; they are the clinical subject matter experts, have first- hand knowledge of social and organizational contexts in which care is delivered, and are valuable sources of potential approaches to address problems and overcome barriers encountered in delivering quality patient care. Also, they often have a central role in implementing changes that the QI process generates. However, there are several challenges to be overcome to fully realize the potential of QI approaches. First, most physicians and their clinical colleagues are not formally educated or trained in basic QI methodology. 4–6 As a result, AMCs confront a conflict between their patient care and educational missions. Their challenge is to continuously improve the quality of care and, at the same time, increase QI capacity by providing faculty, trainees, and students with opportunities to learn and practice QI skills. A second challenge is successfully engaging clinicians in QI activities. For example, in a survey of medical oncologists, almost all believed that QI is important but less than half of those surveyed participated in QI activities, largely because they did not know how to get involved. 7 Paradoxically, physician involvement in multidisciplinary teams is an important element in sustaining hard-earned gains. 8 Disclosures: The authors declare no conflict of interest. Supported by the University of Minnesota Health, University of Minnesota Medical School, Office of Continuing Professional Development. Dr. Gold: Executive Vice President of Medical Affairs, University of Minnesota Health, Minneapolis, MN, and Professor of Anesthesiology, Minneapolis, MN. Ms. England: Director of Infection Prevention, University of Minnesota Health, Minneapolis, MN. Dr. Riley: Professor, School for the Science of Health Care Delivery, ASU Nursing and Health Innovation, Arizona State University, Phoenix, AZ. Ms. Jacobs-Halsey: Director, Strategic Initiatives, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN. Ms. Webb: Medical Student, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, Minneapolis, MN. Dr. Daniels: Co-President, Professor of Medicine, University of Minnesota Health, Minneapolis, MN, CEO, University of Minnesota Physicians, Minneapolis, MN. Correspondence: Barbara Gold, MD, Department of Anesthesiology, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, Minneapolis, MN 55455; e-mail: goldx002@umn.edu. Copyright ª 2016 The Alliance for Continuing Education in the Health Professions, the Association for Hospital Medical Education, and the Society for Academic Continuing Medical Education JCEHP n Fall 2016 n Volume 36 n Number 4 www.jcehp.org 307 Copyright ª 2016 The Alliance for Continuing Education in the Health Professions, the Association for Hospital Medical Education, and the Society for Academic Continuing Medical Education. Unauthorized reproduction of this article is prohibited.