TRAINING


Improving the Quality of Health Services

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Boston, Massachusetts, USA
October 25 - November 5, 2010

Purpose

Around the world governments are trying to assess and improve the quality of health services. These tasks are of even greater importance in those countries where the responsibility for providing health care is being decentralized and the private sector in taking a steadily larger role. This course has been designed to improve the conceptual and practical skills of senior officials.

Specifically, participants attending this course will:

• Learn an effective conceptual framework for the design of an overall health improvement system;
• Learn to plan strategically for health system improvement;
• Learn about the components of the "Quality Toolkit;"
• Learn about specific methods for quality improvement including clinical practice guidelines; and
• Learn how to strengthen the people aspects of the quality improvement process.

Participants will be learning from experience gained in the United States, as well as many other countries of the world.

Course Topics

Content:  This two-week course will cover a number of topics related to improving the quality of care in health systems. While both theory and practice will be included, the emphasis will be on practical skill building.

Topics to be addressed:

• Health Sector Reform and Its Relationship to Quality
• Management Reform
• Overview of Quality
• Accreditation
• Strategic Planning for Quality
• Developing and Implementing Clinical Practice Guidelines
• Human Resources
• Organizational Change
• Performance Contracting
• Negotiation and Conflict Resolution

Who Should Attend

Persons committed to improving the quality of health services in resource-constrained environments, including both policy makers and senior health care managers, will find this workshop helpful. This course will be useful for country or regional leaders engaged in health sector reforms, especially those contracting for health services with private or quasi-governmental institutions. Only managers with strategic authority are appropriate from health care institutions including hospitals. An international perspective will be stressed. This course is not appropriate for people solely focused on work in the United States, or for individuals new to the health care field.

Educational Approach

The participants will be learning through short lectures and class discussions as well as small group and individual exercises. This course offers a blend of theory and practice, geared to an audience that is focused upon implementation rather than research. Classroom points will most often be made through active leaning methods, rather than through lectures. Lively discussion among experienced participants is expected throughout. Participants are encouraged to bring their own country material and resources related to Quality Management. This material will be utilized in individual or group projects that each participant is expected to pursue during the course.


About the Course Directors

Dr. Paul Campbell serves as Course Director. He is a Lecturer on Management in the International Health Systems Program in the Department of Population and International Health at the Harvard School of Public Health as well as in the Department of Health Policy and Management. He is also the President of the Maine Center for Public Health, and previously directed a statewide quality assurance program covering 180 long-term care facilities in the U.S. He has nearly 30 years of experience in the health field, as a manager, consultant and educator.

Dr. Pedro Saturno serves as course co-director. He is a physician and Professor of Public Health at the School of Medicine in the University of Murcia (Spain). He is also Director of a distance-learning Master in Quality Management in Health Services program, currently in its 10th edition. Previously he has served as Deputy Director General for Health Planning and Education at the Spanish Ministry of Health. He has also extensive experience as a consultant in Quality Management for international agencies such as WHO and USAID, and participated in several international Task Forces and Committees on Quality Management, Health Prevention and Education over the last twenty years.