Master in Healthcare Quality and Safety

This course provides a national perspective on the history and evolution of the US healthcare quality movement and the six components for high quality healthcare: safe, timely, effective, equitable, efficient, and patient-centered. Using a mix of local and national leaders in the field, the complexities of quality and the scientific basis for understanding the measurement of quality will be explored, including exposure to quality measures from a variety of organizations and measure comparison sites and the merging of quality outcomes with evolving reimbursement paradigms and models. The association between quality and safety and healthcare economics, regulation, accreditation, information technology, and population health will also be covered.

Taught by: Neha Patel, MD,MS

Course usually offered summer term only

Activity: Lecture

1.0 Course Unit

Course description coming soon.

Taught by: Srinath Adusumalli, MD, MSc

Course usually offered in spring term

0.5 Course Units

This course provides an overview of quantitative and qualitative methods for evaluating quality improvement and patient safety (QI/PS) efforts in healthcare. Through the use of assigned readings, discussion, and assignments, students will develop skills to critique evaluations of existing QI/PS projects and design a robust evaluation of a healthcare improvement initiative. Topics include the principles of good measurement, development of performance measures, intermediate and advanced concepts in statistical process control, and the research methods used in the evaluation of QI/PS interventions.

This class meets weekly both online and in person.

Taught by: April Taylor, MS, MHA, CPPS, CPHQ

Course usually offered in fall term

Activity: Lecture

1.0 Course Unit

Healthcare delivery is complex and constantly changing. A primary mission of leading healthcare organizations is to advance the quality of patient care by striving to deliver care that is safe, effective, efficient, timely, cost effective, and patient-centered. The goal of this inter professional course is to provide students with a broad overview of the principles and tools of quality improvement and patient safety in health care while also guiding them through the steps of developing a quality improvement project. It will provide a foundation for students or practicing clinicians who are interested in quality improvement and patient safety research, administration, or clinical applications. As part of this course, students will design and plan for a real quality improvement project in their area of interest within healthcare using the methods and tools taught in the course.

Taught by:

Jennifer S. Myers, MD and Heather Greysen, PhD, CRNP

Course usually offered in fall term

Also Offered As: NURS 612

Activity: Lecture

1.0 Course Unit

HQS 6400 Coaching in Quality Improvement Work

The purpose of this course is to provide participants with the skills and tools to successfully guide learners in experiential quality improvement (QI) work in healthcare while developing a network of educators with similar roles. Students will be placed into groups based upon their level of experience and confidence in teaching and advising learners in this field. Both groups will discuss topics such as QI project selection, using QI frameworks to structure teaching sessions, key organizational and team factors, providing feedback, common teacher and learner pitfalls in QI, and many others. This will be a blended course with three in- person workshops and monthly asynchronous online educational components with assignments.”

Taught by: Elena Huang, MD, Jennifer Myers, MD, Neha Patel, MD, MS

Course usually offered in fall term

Activity: Hybrid Course

0.5 Course Units

This blended online/in-classroom graduate level course integrates principles of systems thinking with foundational concepts in patient safety. Utilizing complexity theories, students assess healthcare practices and identify factors that contribute to medical errors and impact patient safety. Using a clinical microsystem framework, learners assess a potential patient safety issue and create preventive systems. Lessons learned from the science of safety are utilized in developing strategies to enhance safe system redesign. Core competencies for all healthcare professionals are emphasized, content is applicable for all healthcare providers including, but not limited to, nurses, pharmacists, physicians, social workers and healthcare administrators, and may be taken as an elective by non-majors.

Taught by: Susan Keim, PhD, MSN, MS, CRNP and Kathy Shaw, MD, MSCE

Course usually offered in spring term

Also Offered As: NURS 650

Activity: Lecture

1.0 Course Unit

Course description coming soon.

Taught by: Daniel Hyman, MD, MMM

Course usually offered summer term only

1.0 Course Unit.

The purpose of the quality improvement capstone is to provide a culminating experience in the program that requires the integration and application of knowledge attained in pre- and co-requisite coursework. The Capstone will build upon prior coursework that provided a broad overview of the principles and tools of quality improvement and patient safety in healthcare with a focus on implementation and sustainment of change. Students will apply this knowledge through completion of a mentored quality improvement project in a healthcare organization. In collaboration with faculty and health organization advisors, students will identify a quality improvement opportunity and use improvement methodology to describe the extent of the problem, analyze the current system, design tests of change (countermeasures), implement at least two plan-do-study-act cycles, and measure results. Students will also reflect on lessons learned and process of change.

Taught by: Jessica Hart, MD and Patricia Macolino RN, MSN

Activity: Hybrid

Course offered in the spring semester only.

1.0 Course Unit

The purpose of the quality improvement capstone II course is to provide a culminating experience in the master’s program that requires the integration and application of knowledge attained in prior coursework. Students will build on the skills obtained throughout the masters program and specifically in Quality Improvement in Healthcare Capstone I (HQS990/NURS695) while continuing to lead and experience cycles of improvement work while measuring their results. Students will be required to write a final report for this course.

Taught by: Jennifer Myers MD and Kathy Shaw MD MSCE

Activity: Lecture

1.0 Course Unit

This course is designed to provide a survey of the major topic areas in medical informatics, especially as they apply to clinical research. Through a series of lectures and demonstrations, students will learn about topics such as databases, natural language, clinical information systems, networks, artificial intelligence and machine learning applications, decision support, imaging and graphics, and the use of computers in education.

Taught by: John H. Holmes, PhD, FACE, FACMI

Course usually offered in fall term

Activity: Lecture

1.0 Course Unit

Course directors: Ross Koppel, PhD and Julia Szymczak, PhD

The course will cover five main topic areas: 1. usability, 2. evaluation and measurement of usability, 3. workflow, 4. user-centered design, 5. implementation, and 6. continuing improvement/optimization. Each topic area will incorporate principles, methods, and applications. In the principles section for each topic, the course will clearly define terminology related to the topic area (e.g., What is workflow?), review how key concepts relate to each other (e.g., relationship between human factors engineering and human-computer interaction), and examine the relevance of the topic area in Applied Clinical Informatics. The methodology section for each topic will address qualitative, quantitative, and computational methods used for the design, implementation, and evaluation of health information technology. The applications section for each topic will use case studies based in the topic area to examine the real-world application of principles and methods. The course will cover a wide range of contexts, from homes/communities to organizations to a broader regional scale.

Course usually offered in fall term,  during the second half of the fall semester, Wednesdays, 3:30-6:30pm 

Activity: Lecture

0.5 Course Units

This course is designed to develop intelligent consumers, managers, and researchers of telehealth and mHealth systems through guided exploration into the components of such systems. The course is designed to introduce many of the challenges facing designers and managers of telehealth/ mHealth and remote health care delivery networks. The spectrum of activity ranging from research into implications of system design for applications that bridge geographic distance to the development of practical applications is considered in both historical context and in case studies. The current status and future trends of this emerging domain are reviewed.

Taught by:

George Demiris PhD, PIK University Professor, School of Nursing & Perelman School of Medicine

Course usually offered in fall term

Activity: Lecture

1.0 Course Unit

This course is an introduction to human systems engineering, examining the various human factors that influence the spectrum of human performance and human systems integration. We will examine both theoretical and practical applications, emphasizing fundamental human cognitive and performance issues. Specific topics include: human performance characteristics related to perception, attention, comprehension, memory, decision making, and the role of automation in human systems integration.

One-term course offered either term

Activity: Lecture

1.0 Course Unit

The word “operations” derives from the Latin “opus,” and opus means work. So by definition, operations is about work. This course offers an introduction to operations management: after completing the course, you will be able to use a systematic approach for analyzing and improving your work in health care settings. This will benefit patients, teams of care providers, and staff. The course includes an examination of inefficiencies resulting from the three system inhibitors: waste, variability, and inflexibility. And it provides strategies for engaging in the ongoing process of reducing these negative impacts without sacrificing quality of care. This course offers an introduction to operations management, examining inefficiencies from waste, variability, and inflexibility and providing strategies for engaging in the ongoing process of reducing these negative impacts without sacrificing quality of care. After completing the course, learners will be able to use a systematic approach for analyzing and improving their work in health care settings.

Course usually offered in the fall term

Activity: Online Course

1.0 Course Unit

Behavioral economics is a relatively new field at the intersection of economics and psychology. This course offers an introduction to behavioral economics and its applications to health and health care. In it, we will examine the key conceptual underpinnings of the field. We will discuss in detail the structure of the choice environment and the ways that people are influenced by how choices are structured. We will consider the design of incentives and various approaches used to “supercharge” incentive programs using behavioral economics principles. We will consider the use of social incentives and social comparisons as a way of achieving better physician performance. We will conclude with a description of how behavioral economics is used in public policy, as well as the interesting question of when a “nudge” becomes a shove.

Course usually offered in the spring term.

Activity: Online Course

1.0 Course Unit

This course provides an introduction to the field of health care economics and management. Using an economic approach, the course will provide an overview of the evolution, structure and current issues in the health care ecosystem. It examines the unique features of health care services, products and markets, with a specific focus on the changing relationships between patients, physicians, hospitals, insurers, employers, communities, and government. In particular, the course focuses on three broad segments of the health care industry: payors, providers, and producers. NOTE: This is a required course for Wharton Graduate Health Care Management majors; it counts as an elective course for all other Wharton Graduate students. It is also open to Law School and Nursing School students with a joint Wharton Program.

Course usually offered in fall term

Activity: Lecture

1.0 Course Unit

This course presents a survey of the field of implementation science in health. The structure of the course will include two parts. In the first part, we will introduce the field of implementation science, with an emphasis on theory, design and measurement. In the second part, we will focus on applied implementation science which will include examples of research programs in implementation science as well as applying insights of implementation science to practical implementation. An emphasis on qualitative and mixed methods approaches is included. Prerequisite: permission needed from Instructor.

Taught by: Rinad Beidas, PhD and Meghan Lane-Fall, MD, MSHP

Course usually offered in fall term. Also offered in summer for .5 CU as an institute.

Activity: Lecture

1.0 Course Unit.

This course is designed for students with an interest in health care, medical malpractice, patient safety,
complex tort issues and medical-legal issues. It is ideal for those in the medical field and those pursuing
employment in the medical profession.
This course will provide an insider’s perspective on medical malpractice claims and the medico-legal
considerations that those working in healthcare encounter in their daily work. Covering concepts of
negligence (tort) law to medical liability, students will learn about issues arising from the treatment
relationship between health care providers and their patients.

Course usually offered in spring term.

This seminar course is intended to introduce non-lawyers to legal issues arising in the U.S. health care system and covers the law of doctor-patient relationships while addressing current law and policy challenges related to access to care. The course covers legal issues relevant to special populations, such as patients with mental illness and disability, and patients at the end of life. Finally, the course considers the legal parameters of public health authorities, FDA regulation of pharmaceutical products, and the law of research with human subjects.

One-term course offered either term.

Innovation, defined as a hypothesis-driven, testable, and disciplined strategy, is important to improve health & healthcare. Employing new ways of thinking, such as with design thinking, will help open up possibilities of ways to improve health & the process of healthcare. Incorporating current & emerging social & digital technologies such as mobile apps, wearables, remote sensing, and 3D printing, affords new opportunities for innovation. This course provides foundational content & a disciplined approach to innovation as it applies to health & healthcare. A flipped classroom approach with the in-class component focusing on group learning through design thinking activities. The course is open to undergraduate nursing students as a case study & upper-level undergraduates and graduate students from across the Penn campus. The course provides a theoretical foundation in design thinking & may provide an overview of innovation technology & digital strategies as well as social & process change strategies. To enhance the didactic component, students will actively participate in a design case study. Students will be matched by interest and skill level with teams & will work with community-based organizations, healthcare providers and/or innovation partners. Student teams will meet their partners to identify & refine a health or healthcare problem to tackle. Students will work throughout the semester to create an innovative solution that will be pitched to their community-based organization, healthcare provider, and/or innovation partner at the end of the semester.

Taught by: Marion Leary, RN, MSN, MPH, FAHA

One-term course offered either term

Also Offered As: NURS 357

Activity: Lecture

1.0 Course Unit