I wanted to attend the Academy for Emerging Leaders in Patient Safety (AELPS) to further develop quality and safety improvement techniques, and to share them broadly within our residency program and beyond.
While in medical school at the University of Michigan, I participated in a four-year longitudinal elective called the Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Path of Excellence. This experience sparked my interest in quality improvement and patient safety through immersion in activities such as daily huddles, worksite visits, in-person classes, and workshops. It also provided me with the tools and resources to approach issues of safety, quality, timeliness, efficiency, and satisfaction from a systems viewpoint.
Currently, as Co-Chair of the Quality Improvement and Patient Safety (QIPS) Council for the Internal Medicine Residency Program at Mayo Clinic, I continue to immerse myself in patient safety and system improvement processes. Through this role, I work with the Chief Residents and Council members to select cases to present at Morbidity and Mortality conferences, and also to select cases to develop into scholarly projects. This experience has taught me how to improve patient care within a complex health care system at a variety of organizational levels. I plan to use the lessons learned through AELPS in my QIPS leadership role to mentor other members, promote the application of patient safety techniques, and develop new projects.
My goal is to continue to improve my analytical skills and problem-solving approaches through a systems perspective. Moreover, I aim to disseminate knowledge gained through the AELPS experience with others to improve patient outcomes, reduce medical errors, and establish a safe environment for both patients and staff.