Practical Improvement Science in Health Care: A Roadmap for Getting Results

Learn why improvement science is valuable in health care and daily life

Join Harvard faculty in this online course to learn the skills and tools of improvement science to make positive changes in health, healthcare, and your daily life.

Featuring faculty from:
Self-Paced
Length
7 weeks
2-5 hours per week
Certificate Price
$249
Program Dates
Start Practical Improvement Science in Health Care today.

What You'll Learn

Developed through a collaboration between HarvardX and the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, PH 556x: Practical Improvement Science in Health Care: A roadmap for getting results will provide learners with the valuable skills and simple, well-tested tools they need to translate promising innovations or evidence into practice. A group of expert faculty will explore a scientific approach to improvement a practical, rigorous methodology that includes a theory of change, measurable aims, and iterative, incremental small tests of change to determine if improvement concepts can be implemented effectively in practice. Faculty will present this science through the lens of improving health and health care, but will also share examples of how improvement can (and does) influence our daily lives.

Each week, learners will dive into engaging, interactive materials and relevant resources to start building an improvement toolkit that will serve them long after the seven-week course ends. Learners will immediately put their new skills to the test as they work each week on a personal improvement project that will show them the power of the science that has improved healthcare and other industries around the world for decades.

The only prerequisite for the course is curiosity, but the reward is a lifetime of improvement.

The course will be delivered via edX and connect learners around the world. By the end of the course, participants will learn:

  • Why improvement science is valuable in health, and health care, and daily life.
  • Why understanding a system is critical to improving a process.
  • The value of conducting iterative tests of change.
  • How an improvement project evolves into reliable, standard work.
  • How to design and execute a personal improvement project, including an aim, measures, and tests of change.
  • How interprofessional teams come together to do successful improvement work.

Syllabus

  • Lesson 1: What is the Science of Improvement?
  • Lesson 2: Applying the Model for Improvement
  • Lesson 3: Introduction to Measurement for Improvement
  • Lesson 4: Practical Tools that Support Improvement (including a seven-piece toolkit)
  • Lesson 5: Using Systems Principles to Spread Improvement
  • Lesson 6: Working within Interprofessional Teams
  • Lesson 7: Implementing Sustainable Improvement Work

Your Instructor

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Don Goldmann

Don Goldmann

Don Goldmann, MD is Chief Scientific Officer, Emeritus, and Senior Fellow Institute for Healthcare Improvement Professor of Pediatrics Harvard Medical School Professor of Epidemiology Harvard School of Public Health.
Read full bio.

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Dave Williams

Dave Williams

David M. Williams, Ph.D. advises leaders and organizations worldwide on adopting quality as an organizational strategy.
Read full bio. 

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Don Berwick

Don Berwick

Donald M. Berwick, MD, MPP, FRCP is President Emeritus and Senior Fellow at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) and former Administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
Read full bio. 

Ways to take this course

When you enroll in this course, you will have the option of pursuing a Verified Certificate or Auditing the Course.

A Verified Certificate costs $249 and provides unlimited access to full course materials, activities, tests, and forums. At the end of the course, learners who earn a passing grade can receive a certificate. 

Alternatively, learners can Audit the course for free and have access to select course material, activities, tests, and forums. Please note that this track does not offer a certificate for learners who earn a passing grade.

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