• University of Bath

Quality Improvement in Healthcare: the Case for Change

Explore new and better ways of organising health and social care services to improve quality with this free CPD-certified course.

35,491 enrolled on this course

Stethoscope on charts

Quality Improvement in Healthcare: the Case for Change

35,491 enrolled on this course

  • 6 weeks

  • 3 hours per week

  • Accreditation available

  • Digital certificate when eligible

  • Intermediate level

Find out more about how to join this course

Why is quality improvement in health and social care systems so difficult? Why is it so challenging to bring in new and better ways of organising health and social care services?

Many reasons have been put forward: lack of money; lack of appropriate or complete knowledge; excessive and perhaps unnecessary regulations; and entrenched professional opinions and interests.

This course suggests that the main reason is complexity. Health and social care systems are inherently complex, with many interconnected activities and processes, and thus difficult to measure, analyse, change and improve.

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Skip to 0 minutes and 10 seconds Constrained budgets, a growing and ageing population presenting with complex conditions, as well as high expectations and demands from patients all combine to make the successful delivery of quality health care in the 21st century a major challenge. But understanding how the system works and how patients and professionals interact is key to unlocking some of these challenges which this course will help with. Would you like to make a difference to patient care? Would you like to start a journey of improvement? Patients, carers and families, managers, suppliers, accountants, porters. Administrators, human resources, house keeping and catering staff. Buildings and facilities engineers.

Skip to 0 minutes and 54 seconds IT experts as well as clinicians all form part of this complex system we call health and social care and have an interest in improvement. We know that everybody is incredibly busy working hard in their own part of the system, but our experience tells us that everyone wants to make a difference. Knowing where and how to start is the challenge. Over the next six weeks, we will share with you a set of skills, tools, and attitudes that make it possible to change complex systems whatever your role is within the system.

Skip to 1 minute and 29 seconds The University of Bath and the West of England Academic Health Science Network have put together this course to help you be more confident, to rethink the status quo, to know how to look at the problem from different angles, including that of the patient, to test and learn from the changes you make, to develop the habits of a continuous improver, to identify and measure unintended consequences, and to work as a team using data to adapt your improvements, to embed coaching and leadership skills, and to create a culture of improvement, to share and celebrate your success and to know where to go to learn more and get extra support for your ideas.

Skip to 2 minutes and 15 seconds We know that a small group of committed people can change the world, and we know that using quality improvement methods means they can do it faster.

What topics will you cover?

  • Complexity and quality improvement in health and social care
  • Quality improvement theory: the Model for Improvement, an introduction to LEAN, an introduction to microsystems
  • Evaluating quality improvement: the lens of profound knowledge, measuring for improvement
  • Engagement and co-production
  • Systems modelling and quality improvement: modelling for demand and capacity problems and computer simulation modelling
  • Making the case for quality improvement

Who is this accredited by?

The CPD Certification Service
The CPD Certification Service:

This course has been accredited by the CPD Certification Service, which means it can be used to provide evidence of your continuing professional development.

When would you like to start?

Start straight away and join a global classroom of learners. If the course hasn’t started yet you’ll see the future date listed below.

  • Available now

Learning on this course

On every step of the course you can meet other learners, share your ideas and join in with active discussions in the comments.

What will you achieve?

By the end of the course, you‘ll be able to...

  • Identify what quality and process improvement entails, especially in a health and social care setting
  • Explain how quality improvement can lead to better outcomes for staff and organisations, including customers and/or patients
  • Gain confidence to start and lead a quality improvement project within your organisation
  • Identify how to access additional support, and get others to join with you in making improvements
  • Discuss how quality improvement can help you deal with complexity in organisational systems and identify how to improve key areas without worsening others
  • Explore how systems modelling and analytics techniques support quality improvement initiatives

Who is the course for?

The course is designed for people working in health and social care organisations such as clinicians, allied health professionals, nurses, managers or administrators. People with a general interest in health and social care organisations, such as service users and carers, may also find the course of interest to them.

What do people say about this course?

"Thank you, this course was excellent. Most of the material was relevant to my area of work, the clinical examples were easy to relate and the strategies for quality improvement can be applied in any healthcare setting."

"This was a wonderful course! Thank you very much for all! The great learning material, videos and comments are so much useful for the improvement in the health sector and for the improvement in all the sectors of activity!"

Who will you learn with?

I am Director of Quality Development for Northumbria Healthcare NHS FT. I lead quality improvement development & coach teams across the UK to innovate and spread best practice.

Professor and Director, Centre for Healthcare Improvement & Innovation (CHI-2) @ProfChristosV @UniofBath @BathSofM. Change by design through systems modelling and simulation in healthcare.

25yrs as NHS consultant Radiologist, 9 yrs Medical Director & 5 yrs as Regional Medical Lead for Patient Safety. I am a Health Foundation/IHI Quality Improvement Fellow. I coach & teach teams to excel

Who developed the course?

University of Bath

The University of Bath is one of the UK’s leading universities both in terms of research and our reputation for excellence in teaching, learning and graduate prospects.

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Ways to learn

Choose the best way to learn for you!

Subscribe & save

$27.99

For the first two months. Automatically renews

Develop skills to further your career

  • Access to this course
  • Access to 1,000+ courses
  • Learn at your own pace
  • Discuss your learning in comments
  • Tests to boost your learning
  • Digital certificate when you're eligible

Cancel for free anytime

Buy this course

$134/one-off payment

Fulfill your current learning need

  • Access to this course
  • Learn at your own pace
  • Discuss your learning in comments
  • Tests to boost your learning
  • Printed and digital certificate when you’re eligible

Limited access

Free

Sample the course materials

  • Access expires 30 Apr 2024

Find out more about certificates, Unlimited or buying a course (Upgrades)

T&Cs apply.

Learning on FutureLearn

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  • Learn through a mix of bite-sized videos, long- and short-form articles, audio, and practical activities
  • Stay motivated by using the Progress page to keep track of your step completion and assessment scores

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  • Experience the power of social learning, and get inspired by an international network of learners
  • Share ideas with your peers and course educators on every step of the course
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  • As you work through the course, use notifications and the Progress page to guide your learning
  • Whenever you’re ready, mark each step as complete, you’re in control
  • Complete 90% of course steps and all of the assessments to earn your certificate

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