VAQS Curriculum
The VAQS Fellowship is exceptional in its learning experience. The educational activities are made up of three structured components that create a cross- country learning community.
1. Video Conference
There are 25 Two Way Interactive Video conferences (TWIV) a year. The TWIV sessions follow a standard curriculum developed at Dartmouth Medical School. Fellows discuss assignments, give presentations, and listen to lectures by special invited guests.
The following list is a compilation of various topics discussed at the biweekly teleconferencing sessions. Each session covers one topic and is two hours in length.
1. Introduction and Logistics; Systems Failure, Medical Errors
2. Quality Is Personal
3. Prior Leaders of Improvement
4. Health Care as a System; VA as a System
5. Personal Improvement Projects
6. Process and Outcomes Thinking
7. Change Concepts
8. Learning Cycles for Improvement
9. Variation & Statistical Process Control
10. Benchmarking
11. Understanding Patient Perspectives
12. Analyzing Satisfaction Data
13. Financial Data and Cost Analysis
14. Working Together, Collaboration
15. Conflict Management, Negotiation Theory
16. Teaching and Learning
17. Research Design for Improvement Work
18. Ethics and Quality Improvement
19. Models for Understanding Complexity
20. The Microsystem Model
21. High Performing Microsystems
22. Making Change in a Microsystem
23. Measurement of Microsystem Performance
24. Competencies & Educational Evaluation
25. Strategic and Organizational Improvement
2. Program Meetings
Three face-to-face program meetings a year give the fellows not only an opportunity to work with one another in person, but each meeting is related to a current topic in the improvement of health care. The three meetings are:
1. VAQS Meeting - Lake Morey Resort, Fairlee Vermont - August
2. IHI National Forum - Orlando Florida - December
3. HSR&D National Meeting - Baltimore, Maryland - February
3. Project Development
Planning and implementing a health care improvement projects is a major part of the VAQS Curriculm. Learning in the VAQS curriculum is based on adult learning theory and designed to be active rather than passive. Fellows are expected to be responsible for their own learning and are encouraged to assess and review their progress regularly with program faculty, most commonly the Senior Scholar. As a result, fellows should build a portfolio of knowledge, skills and attitudes during their fellowship experience. The outcome of this work should be the development of competencies needed to promote the scholarship, research and teaching of the improvement of health care. The three main competencies expected from graduates of the VAQS program are:
1. Design and make a change for the improvement of healthcare.
2. Design, conduct & write-up (for a peer-reviewed journal) a research project on improvement.
3. Teach a group of health professionals about what they might do to improve care.
