Certificate of Added Qualification in Healthcare Improvement (CAQHI) Program

Overview

LEVEL: ADVANCED

Program Offerings

An accepted application to the CAQHI Program provides automatic enrollment in both of the required courses (separate/additional applications for the courses do NOT need to be submitted), provided that the enrolled learner successfully completes and satisfies all stated requirements for each course and the overall certificate program.

Applicants for the CAQHI Program should ensure they meet all of the following requirements:

• Program Prerequisite: An enrolled learner in the CAQHI Program begins the certificate program with enrollment in Course 1: QI Jump Start, an intermediate-level QI training course. As such, the following prerequisite for the QI Jump Start course also applies to the CAQHI Program:

  If selected, the applicant must have successfully completed the QI Foundations: Take the Lead on Healthcare Quality Improvement course (or an approved equivalent) prior to the start of the QI Jump Start course. This foundational-level QI training course is comprised of a series of six (6) self-paced, online modules, prepared by Case Western Reserve (offered through Coursera), that BCM and affiliated learners may access at any time and at no cost. Those participating in the QI Jump Start course would benefit from arriving to the first session with a strong familiarity of the foundational-level tools and resources provided through the noted course. (Source: Prerequisite for Course 1: QI Jump Start)

  As mentioned, the prerequisite must be successfully completed prior to the start of the QI Jump Start course; it does not need to be completed before submitting an CAQHI Program application. CAQHI Program Applicants have an opportunity to indicate on the application form whether they are in the process of completing the prerequisite course.

  In order to progress through the certificate program, the CAQHI Program learner must successfully complete Course 1 (intermediate level), as a prerequisite for subsequent enrollment in Course 2: Leading Healthcare Improvement, an advanced-level course.

• Affiliation: The applicant must be a current faculty, fellow/advanced trainee, or staff at Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) or a BCM-affiliated institution (unless other arrangements have been made with the I-QIPS Leadership Team prior to application submission).
• QI Project: The applicant must describe on their application a concrete, leadership-approved improvement project that can be developed, implemented, and completed over the term of the CAQHI Program (across the two program-required courses). Enrolled learners will work on their respective projects during the courses, developing the project further with each course session by applying the concepts and knowledge gained from the sessions.
  The project can be an initiative that the applicant currently is pursuing or will concurrently begin at the start of the CAQHI Program/Course 1: QI Jump Start. However, in order to meet CAQHI Capstone submission requirements and deadline, the selected project must be in an area in which the applicant has substantial control and can likely begin at the start of Course 1: QI Jump Start and complete by the end of Course 2: Leading Healthcare Improvement.

  If you do not have a suitable improvement project at this time, you are encouraged to apply for a future offering of the CAQHI Program, when you have an appropriate project confirmed and approved. In the meantime, you are invited and encouraged to complete the prerequisite course noted above (QI Foundations: Take the Lead on Healthcare Quality Improvement), if you have not already done so; the training is self-paced and offered online.

• Letter of Support: The applicant must upload to their application a Letter of Support from a clinical champion in the clinical area that they are seeking to improve through their selected QI project (i.e., the area in which their project will be implemented). The letter should confirm that the applicant has the full support of their supervisor/leadership/clinical champion to participate in the course, should their application be selected.
  Further, the letter should confirm that the support they have includes the following: resources necessary for the success of the approved QI Project, applicant's full participation in the CAQHI Program in its entirety (including BOTH courses), and applicant's time needed to be successful in the program (including time required to attend ALL course sessions, complete all assignments, further their improvement project throughout the term of the program, etc.) and to successfully meet Capstone Project submission requirements and deadline.

By the end of the CAQHI Program, learners should be able to address the following items, as organized by core competency areas:

1. Interprofessional Collaboration and Teamwork
• Identify relevant team members to improve a stated healthcare problem
• Demonstrate an understanding of one’s own role and those of other disciplines to advance the health of populations within the context of a healthcare improvement project


2. Organization and System Leadership
• Use theories to explain and guide the interactions within and between health system components
• Communicate the value of change to diverse stakeholders and consumers of healthcare improvement information
• Understand how strategic leaders adapt healthcare organizations to meet the demands of organizational environments


3. Improvement and Implementation Science
• Identify and justify scientific evidence that is ready for translation into practice
• Use improvement and implementation to promote sustainable healthcare practice change
• Use health care information systems to support healthcare improvement, innovation, and implementation
• Evaluate and analyze implementation strategies


4. Methodological Skills and Analytic Techniques for Improvement and Implementation
• Demonstrate ability to conceptually and operationally define measures (process, outcome, and balancing) that are aligned with aims and change ideas (interventions/exposures)
• Demonstrate ability to develop, implement, and evaluate data collection plans
• Utilize appropriate methods to analyze data

Criteria for Completion

In order to remain enrolled in the CAQHI Program, learners must successfully complete each of the steps described below; each step serves as a prerequisite and Program requirement for its subsequent step.

• STEP 1: Complete Course 1: QI Jump Start* - This intermediate-level course builds upon foundational skills, as well as those concepts acquired from each course session. It includes a series of required (brief) course assessments, administered before the start of the course, immediately after the final session, and again about three months thereafter, for learners to provide updates regarding the progress of their projects, as related to the training received from the course.

The topics covered in the course include, but are not limited to, the following: systems/design thinking and redesign, models for healthcare improvement, basic measures and tools for conducting quality improvement (QI), adult learning theory and mentoring, and QI scholarship.

The successful completion of the QI Jump Start course is based on the stated Criteria for Completion described on the QI Jump Start Course Overview page, where the following course information also is provided: Goal and Target, Audience, Learning Objectives, Content, Delivery, Accreditation and Credit Designation, Evaluation.

• STEP 2: Complete Course 2: Leading Healthcare Improvement (LHI)* - This advanced-level leadership training course is designed to develop leaders of interprofessional improvement teams within their clinical settings. Each course session is designed to build upon the content, activities, and assignments from its previous sessions, and a series of required (brief) course assessments is administered before the start of the course, immediately after the final session, and about three months thereafter, for learners to provide updates regarding the progress of their projects, as related to the training received from the course.

The topics covered in the course include, but are not limited to, the following: transformational goals, effective leadership, identifying internal and external stakeholders essential to change projects, cultural barriers and facilitators of organizational change.

The successful completion of the LHI course is based on the stated Criteria for Completion described on the LHI Course Overview page, where the following course information also is provided: Goal and Target, Audience, Learning Objectives, Content, Delivery, Accreditation and Credit Designation, Evaluation.

• STEP 3: Complete and Submit Capstone Project - As the final requirement of the CAQHI Program, each enrolled learner is responsible for completing and submitting one (1) approved healthcare improvement capstone project. The capstone project must be submitted online via the Capstone Submission Form designated for the respective CAQHI Program offering/group (e.g., Fall 2021, Group: CAQHI-1; Fall 2022, Group: CAQHI-2).

  The successful completion of the capstone project is based on the continuity of the project (in its development and implementation) across the two required courses, as well as per the stated requirements and criteria described in the respective Capstone Submission Instructions provided for the respective CAQHI Program offering/group, which include the following information:

  • Capstone Submission Form
  • Project Requirement
  • Submission Requirement
  • Evaluation Criteria

  For the capstone submission deadline and instructions for a given CAQHI Program offering/group, learners should refer to the above Program Offerings list and select the respective offering in which they are enrolled.

*Both of the required training courses (see Step 1 and Step 2 above) must be taken through the I-QIPS in order to qualify for the Certificate of Added Qualification in Healthcare Improvement.