A continuous quality improvement curriculum for residents: Addressing core competency, improving systems

Purpose. To describe the development, implementation, and evaluation of a residency continuous quality improvement (CQI) curriculum. Method. Forty-four medicine and pediatrics residents participated in a CQI curriculum. Resident,designed projects were scored for CQI construct skills using a grading tool. Pre- and post-tests evaluated knowledge, perceived knowledge, interest, and self-efficacy. Results. Differences between pre- and post-test perceived knowledge and self-efficacy were highly significant (p < .001). The mean project score was 81.7% (SD 8.3%). Higher knowledge was associated with higher ratings of self-efficacy. There was no correlation of measured knowledge with project score or interest. Conclusions. Resident education and learning in CQI served to produce innovative and creative improvement projects that demonstrated individual residents' competency in practice-based learning and improvement.