A Structured Quality Improvement Educational Curriculum Increases Surgical Resident Involvement in QI Processes.

Objective Patient safety and quality improvement (QI) processes are vitally important to healthcare systems. Training and experience in QI processes are mandated by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) for general surgery residents. The execution and efficacy of these training programs in residencies have thus far been inconsistent. The purpose of this study was to assess the effectiveness of our surgical residency's QI educational program. Methods We instituted a formalized QI educational program for all residents in our academic general surgery residency program from 2018 to 2019. The curriculum included didactics, online educational resources, peer-group collaboration, and faculty mentorship. Residents performed a self-assessment survey of their knowledge, skill, and comfort levels with QI processes before and after the program using a 10-point Likert scale. The number of QI projects conducted, presented, and subsequently prepared for publication was enumerated. The ACGME resident survey program results regarding resident involvement in QI processes before and after program implementation were compared. Results After 1 year of the program, residents demonstrated significant increases in average self-assessed knowledge of QI processes (6.4 vs. 4.0, p Conclusion Implementation of a formalized, structured quality improvement education program for surgery residents significantly increased residents' participation in QI projects, as well as increasing their confidence in their knowledge and skillset to perform QI processes. The residency program's ACGME resident survey results regarding resident involvement in QI also improved during program implementation.