Learning Outcome
Learn why improvement science is valuable in health, and health care, and daily life
Individual Course
Practical Improvement Science in Health Care: A Roadmap for Getting Results
Course Length
7 weeks
2-5 hours per week
Featuring faculty from:
Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
Enroll as Individual
Certificate Price:
$ 249
Enroll as Individual
Certificate Price:
$ 249
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.
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.
Self-Guided
EDX
Learning Outcome
Learn how to design and execute a personal improvement project, including an aim, measures, and tests of change.
Learning Outcome
Explore how an improvement project evolves into reliable, standard work
- Learn from Harvard faculty
- Do it on your own time
- Get a certificate, add it to your resume
- Be part of the Harvard Community
Faculty
Your Instructor
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.
Your Instructor
Dave Williams
David M. Williams, Ph.D. advises leaders and organizations worldwide on adopting quality as an organizational strategy. Read full bio.
Your Instructor
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.
Ways to take this course
Audit or Pursue a Verified Certificate
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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