Fellowship in Quality and Patient Safety

Fellowship in Quality and Patient Safety at UCSF/ San Francisco VAMC This is a one-year, with full salary-funding, fellowship in Quality and Patient Safety. It is designed for surgical residents who have completed 3 years of residency, it would fulfill a requirement for a research year - although it's focus is on actual improvements in Quality and patient safety (rather than research pur se). It is primarily based at the San Francisco VA, but fellows teach at the UCSF simulation center and have pursued quality and patient safety initiatives across the entire UCSF campus. It has an academic curriculum through the VA with formal Quality and Patient Safety teaching, including a formal bootcamp seminar that starts the experience.

This program incorporates diverse experience in approaches to understanding human factors and applying these concepts to patient safety. It includes training in concepts of human factors, simulation, team training, lean initiatives, and new and ongoing patient safety initiatives. We encourage the Surgical CRQS fellows to pursue innovative approaches to surgical patient safety. They will learn principles of human factors, quality, and patient safety. They will learn principles of education in Quality and Patient Safety. They will have experience teaching simulation, develop competence in surgical simulation, including the use of SimMan, and other robust techniques for surgical simulation. They will facilitate development, delivery and evaluation of an integrated curriculum in patient safety, surgical simulation, medical team training, and quality improvement. They will teach junior residents in several settings, the UCSF and San Francisco VA simulation centers, clinical settings, and conferences. And, finally, fellows will develop a unique project in Human factors, quality, and patient safety. At the completion of the fellowship, they will have a credential in both Resident teaching and Quality and Patient Safety.

Participants – graduates of this program have improved access for recruitment to VA faculty positions. The Surgical CRQS program has led to improvements in all aspects of the VHA mission (Patient care, Education, Research). It has improved healthcare education for surgical residents and medical students (including CRQS participants). It has contributed to scholarship – with publications the CRQS participants initiatives. And the CRQS program has had a meaningful impact on patient care. Quality and patient safety projects, instituted by CRQS participants., have led to permanent changes that have improved the care of patients and improved the environment for care-givers at the SFVA and UCSF.

These include:

• Hand-offs (between daytime residents and night/weekend coverage)
• Simulation training for General Surgery residents and Medical students
• Interprofessional Training
• Formatting of Surgical Notes
• Operative Handoffs (during surgical procedures-Nursing, Anesthesia)
• Operative Team Expertise
• Surgical Outcomes (VASQIP) following Esophagectomy procedures
• Frailty Screening and the influence of frailty on outcomes. Residents can pursue any project they are interested in.

How To Apply:

Send email with CV to: [email protected]