Fundamentals of Health Care Quality Improvement
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Program Overview
Establish a foundation for leading meaningful healthcare improvement—at your own pace, on your own schedule.
Healthcare systems around the world consistently fall short of delivering care that is safe, effective, patient-centered, timely, efficient, and equitable. Closing this gap requires more than good intentions, it demands a disciplined, evidence-based approach to improvement. This fully asynchronous, self-paced course introduces the science of healthcare quality improvement for professionals who are new to organized improvement or who seek to strengthen their foundational understanding.
Through video lectures, reflective assignments, and real-world case studies, participants explore the core building blocks of improvement science: the definition and dimensions of quality care, the frameworks that structure improvement efforts, and the principles (including systems thinking, teamwork, customer focus, iterative testing, shared learning, and reliable design) that distinguish lasting improvement from short-lived change. This course draws on examples from global healthcare settings to illustrate what organized improvement looks like in practice across diverse contexts and health system types.
This course is the required prerequisite for Learning How to Improve Health Care Through a Simulation Case Study, in which participants apply these foundations in a live instructor-led simulation and develop the design for their own improvement project. No prior experience in quality improvement is required for the Fundamentals of Health Care Quality Improvement course.
Learning Objectives
After this course, participants will be able to:
- Articulate the key challenges in healthcare quality and explain the rationale for a science-based approach to improvement
- Describe the dimensions of quality care and apply them to their own professional context
- Explain the frameworks that guide organized improvement efforts, including the distinction between discovery and delivery
- Identify the core principles of improvement science and describe how each shapes the design of effective improvement initiatives
- Explain why standards, training, or measurement alone are insufficient drivers of sustained improvement
- Draw on real-world improvement examples to recognize how improvement methods are applied across diverse healthcare settings
Program Details
Health professionals and leaders who are new to organized quality improvement, or seek to advance their existing skills and knowledge, including clinicians, facility and program managers, quality and patient safety personnel, public health and health systems practitioners, professionals in governmental, NGO, or private sector health organizations, and graduate students preparing for roles in health care delivery or systems improvement. No prior formal training in quality improvement is required.
Those eligible for this course may also be interested in our second quality improvement course, Learning How to Improve Health Care Through a Simulation Case Study, which builds on this course with a live, applied simulation.
- What is Quality Care
- Frameworks for Quality Improvement
- Principles I: Systems/Processes, Teamwork, and Customer Focus
- Principles II: Testing Changes, Shared Learning, and Reliable Design
- Improvement in Action I: Hypertension
- Improvement in Action II: Antiretroviral Treatment
- Improvement in Action III
Program Director
Go Further with Specialized Expertise
Earn a Certificate of Specialization
Take this program to earn a Certificate of Completion, or take this course and others to earn either the Leadership in Health Care Certificate of Specialization or the Public Health Innovation Certificate of Specialization.
