Research & Resources

Post-Doctoral Fellowship Program in Health Services Research

Master's Program in Healthcare Quality and Patient Safety

Certificate Program in Healthcare Quality and Patient Safety

Faculty & Staff

Centers

Programs in Healthcare Quality

Center for Healthcare Equity

Center for Patient Safety

Health Economics Center

Health Literacy and Learning Program

Courses and Curriculum

The Master's Program is designed to meet educational goals while allowing students to continue their careers or medical school education, making the program accessible to medical students, clinicians, and healthcare professionals who are willing to make a commitment to pursue the 18 months of training.

> Core Courses > Course Schedule

Course Number	Course Name
HQS 401	Introduction to Healthcare Quality
HQS 402	Introduction to Patient Safety
	Elective
HQS 420	Introduction to the U.S. Healthcare System
HQS 440	Fundamental Methods for Healthcare Quality and Patient Safety
HQS 501	Advanced Healthcare Quality
HQS 502	Advanced Patient Safety
HQS 430	Capstone I
HQS 435	Capstone II

"The Master's Program in Healthcare Quality and Patient Safety at Northwestern University is providing me with the knowledge and skills to better contribute to and lead current and future efforts at my hospital. Additionally, it's given me the foundation for performing research in patient safety."

-Kevin O'Leary, MD (Class of 2009)

The Master of Science degree program consists of nine courses, starting with an introductory 2-week immersion program in Healthcare Quality and Patient Safety. The immersion program begins with a reading period, followed by two weeks of classroom based instruction. This work is followed by courses on fundamental methods for Healthcare Quality and Patient Safety, the healthcare system, and an elective to enable students to focus on specific areas of interest. The following summer there is an additional 2-week immersion program addressing advanced Healthcare Quality and Patient Safety content and skill development. The Master’s Program concludes with mentored Capstone Courses, in which students will design, implement, and evaluate a Healthcare Quality or Patient Safety project.

The Master’s program does require students to reside in the local Northwestern University vicinity as all components of the program require attending class on the Chicago Campus.

Core Courses

HQS 401: Introduction to Healthcare Quality

National leaders in healthcare quality (see program faculty) will introduce students to the history of healthcare quality and measurement of healthcare quality. Students will achieve a familiarity with definition and measurement of quality of healthcare in a variety of health care settings and the public policy drivers of quality improvement. Interactive exercises and discussion will engage students in the challenges of behavior change and quality improvement and the role of public policy as a driver of improvement including financial incentives in public reporting.

Course Directors: Kevin B. Weiss, MD, MPH and Stephen D. Persell, MD, MPH

HQS 402: Introduction to Patient Safety

Leading national patient safety researchers and policy makers (see program faculty) will introduce students to relevant theory, content, tools and methods in the field of patient safety. Faculty will engage students through selected readings, presentations, interactive exercises and discussions. Students will be introduced to the magnitude of the patient safety problem and high risk contexts for error occurrence. Students will learn error theory and systems thinking as well as methods for risk assessment and patient safety improvement. Students will be challenged to consider the roles of varied healthcare stakeholders in building a safer healthcare system.

Course Directors: Donna M. Woods, EdM, PhD and Gary A. Noskin, MD

HQS 501: Advanced Healthcare Quality

Classroom exercises and discussions will engage students in critical thinking about healthcare quality and leadership. Focus will be directed toward advancing public policy, quality improvement strategies and medical delivery models that improve the quality of health care. Through this course students will learn of techniques for effective improvement science, define quality and select / develop meaningful metrics reflecting quality for an organization, demonstrate understanding of how to implement major quality improvement strategies based on proven methodologies for effective teamwork, solid process and measurement, and achieve improved and sustained outcomes.

Course Directors: Kevin B. Weiss, MD, MPH and Cynthia Barnard, MBA

HQS 502: Advanced Patient Safety

Dynamic interaction with leading national patient safety researchers and policy makers (see program faculty) will engage students in learning advanced theory, content, and skills for patient safety leadership and practice. The course readings, presentations, hand-on exercises and discussions are designed to develop students to a level of mastery in the field of patient safety. Sessions will focus on developing safety leadership, safety culture, the legal and policy context for patient safety at the state and federal levels. Safety theory, methods and skills will be applied across varied healthcare contexts: Ambulatory care, hospital-based care, labor and delivery, long term care, special concerns in pediatrics and in the context of communication across transitions. The impact of health information technology on safe medical care within and across institutions will be explored and principles of effective implementation will be demonstrated and discussed. Students will have the opportunity to work with simulation tools to develop and run simulation scenarios. Students will be introduced to what is currently known about effective methods for error disclosure. Students will develop proficiency with patient safety risk assessment and improvement methods, principles of safe system design, key patient safety priorities.

Course Directors: Donna M Woods, EdM, PhD and John Vozenilek, MD

Course Schedule
	YEAR 1				YEAR 2
	SUMMER	FALL	WINTER	SPRING	SUMMER	FALL	WINTER	SPRING
Master's in Healthcare Quality and Patient Safety	Two Week Summer Intensive HQS 401 HQS 402	Elective	HQS 420	HQS 440	Two Week Summer Intensive HQS 501 HQS 502	HQS 430 Capstone Part I	HQS 435 Capstone Part II
Certificate in Healthcare Quality and Patient Safety	Two Week Summer Intensive HQS 401 HQS 402	Monthly Webcast			Two Week Summer Intensive HQS 501 HQS 502
Certificate in Healthcare Quality and Patient Safety	Two Week Summer Intensive HQS 401 HQS 402	HQS 499: Independent Study (one course to be taken in Fall, Winter or Spring Quarter)			Two Week Summer Intensive HQS 501 HQS 502
Faculty Development Program in Healthcare Quality and Patient Safety	Two Week Summer Intensive HQS 401 HQS 402	HQS 500: Independent Study in Healthcare Quality and Patient Safety Education			Two Week Summer Intensive HQS 501 HQS 502

	End of YEAR 1	1 Evening per Week	1 Evening per Week	According to Course Schedule	Beginning of YEAR 4	YEAR 4
Dual Program: MS and MD	Two Week Summer Intensive HQS 401 HQS 402	Elective	HQS 420	HQS 440	Two Week Summer Intensive HQS 501 HQS 502	HQS 430 Capstone Part I	HQS 435 Capstone Part II