Implementing a quality improvement curriculum for medical oncology residents: A pilot study at the Ottawa Hospital Cancer Centre.

Abstract

10540 Background: With increasing cancer care costs and demands in Canada, quality improvement (QI) efforts are urgently needed. Yet no formal QI education exists in the Canadian Medical Oncology setting. We created an Oncology-specific QI curriculum and sought to assess its feasibility and efficacy among Medical Oncology residents. Methods: In this prospective, pre-experimental pilot study using a pre-post curriculum design, Medical Oncology residents at The Ottawa Hospital Cancer Centre participated in a new QI curriculum. It consisted of four 2-hour sessions encompassing a combination of didactic and interactive learning. The primary measures were self-assessment of confidence in QI skills with the Self-Assessment Program (SAP) and objective assessment of QI knowledge with the revised QIKAT (QIKAT-R). The SAP and QIKAT-R were completed at baseline and post-curriculum. The primary outcome was feasibility of the educational approach. Results: Five Medical Oncology participated, while four (80%) completed the assessments at both timepoints. Self-assessment in the skills needed to execute a process improvement project improved with participation in the curriculum. Mean SAP scores improved from 19.6 pre-curriculum to 33.5 post-curriculum. SAP scores improved for each of the 10 quality improvement skills evaluated. Objective assessment using the QIKAT-R also improved post-curriculum, with a mean score of 17 pre-curriculum and 24 post-curriculum. Mean scores of each domain of “Aim, Measure, and Change” evaluated by the QIKAT-R improved. Conclusions: Self-assessed confidence and objective knowledge in QI concepts in Medical Oncology residents improved after participation in this Oncology-specific QI curriculum. Feasibility of this approach was demonstrated, and therefore a larger scale study will be implemented in the future.