Online Course – Certified Professional Internship in Improving the Quality of Health Services from Imperial College London

Developing skills and knowledge in quality improvements in healthcare.

Suggested by: Coursera (What is Coursera?)

Professional Certificate

Beginners

No prior knowledge required

Time to complete the course

7-day free trial

No unnecessary risks

Skills you will acquire in the course

  • Communication skills
  • Critical thinking
  • Troubleshooting
  • Teamwork
  • Time management
  • Leadership skills
  • Mental flexibility
  • Analytical skills
  • Technological skills
  • Writing skills

What you will learn in the course

Courses for which the course is suitable

  • Quality Manager in the Healthcare System
  • Healthcare Data Analyst
  • Consultant for improving the quality of healthcare services
  • Project Manager for Improving Population Health
  • Researcher in the field of improving the quality of medical care
  • Expert in the evaluation of healthcare improvement initiatives
  • Instructor or lecturer in the field of quality improvement in healthcare systems
  • Clinical Process Manager
  • Public Health Project Manager
  • Medical Statistics Specialist

Internship – 3-part course series

Healthcare systems around the world strive to prevent and treat diseases and medical conditions, and to improve well-being and quality of life. This specialization focuses on improving the quality of services offered by these systems. The content of the specialization is based on academic literature and research in the field of quality improvement, and is presented through practical, real-life examples.

Leaders in the field

  • You will hear from leaders in the field, including a variety of guest speakers who will support your learning.

What you’ll learn

  • Explore what is meant by quality in medical care.
  • You will learn approaches to quality improvement.
  • Understand what has been learned and what has not been learned so far through scientific research of these approaches.

Understanding of theory and practice

  • You will gain an understanding of the theory and practice of quality improvement in the healthcare system.
  • You will learn tools and techniques for quality improvement.
  • You will learn how to implement them and what reviews can be given for their use.
  • You will learn to analyze data over time to guide and evaluate improvement initiatives.
  • You will learn these concepts in the contexts of health services and population health.
  • You will learn from experts and quality improvement practitioners.

Hands-on Learning Project

In the final assessment of this internship, you will consolidate what you have learned in the three courses:

  • From quality improvement methods.
  • Through designs for evaluating improvement initiatives.
  • and to improve population health.

You will plan your own improvement initiative, which will address an important health problem in the population, and choose methods that are appropriate for the problem.

Details of the courses that make up the specialization

Introduction to quality improvement in healthcare

  • Course 1
  • 21 hours
  • 4.7 (19 ratings)

Course Details

What you’ll learn

This course introduces the concepts, theories, and applications of quality improvement (QI) in healthcare from a global perspective. You will learn from patients, clinicians, and academics about what quality improvement means to them, and how they work together to make a difference. By learning about the challenges they have faced and the strategies they have implemented to overcome these challenges, you will learn to implement and monitor key QI practices, from experienced practitioners in the field.

At the end of this module you will know:

  • Identify the characteristics of different quality improvement approaches in order to criticize them and make decisions about when to implement them.
  • Explain the components necessary for a structured approach to quality improvement to implement key quality improvement methods to support the planning, design, implementation, and evaluation of improvement efforts.

Using data to improve health

  • Course 2
  • 15 hours

Course Details

What you’ll learn

In this course, you will learn about the importance of measuring quality of care and health outcomes to determine whether quality improvement (QI) initiatives have achieved their goals. You will learn how data is used to identify areas for improvement and the importance of using both quantitative and qualitative data in evaluating change. You will learn about the specific methods appropriate for improvement, as opposed to methods more suited to research, including how to design appropriate measurement systems for improvement initiatives.

Improving the quality of population health

  • Course 3
  • 13 hours

Course Details

What you’ll learn

Quality improvement methods were first introduced in healthcare in hospital settings. However, in the last decade in particular, there has been a growing focus on applying these methods to improve population and public health. In this course, you will apply a combination of both approaches to improving population health. You will also learn how to research and evaluate large improvement initiatives to effectively capture learning.

Learning objectives:

  • Implement quality improvement methods in conjunction with population health frameworks to design a population health improvement initiative.
  • Understand how the use of geographic information systems contributes to quality improvement.
  • Critique different research designs for investigating quality improvement initiatives.