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Hamad Medical Corporation’s Clinical Care Improvement Training Programme (CCITP) recently graduated teams of physicians who have completed their quality improvement projects from the programme’s sixth cycle. |
The four-month-long classroom course and intensive small-group coaching aimed to teach HMC physicians key tools for quality improvement and then guides participants to design and undertake their own quality improvement projects across HMC departments.
The CCITP is an initiative between the Medical Administration and Medical Education departments at HMC and has become an important platform towards improving patient care, even winning the Managing Director’s Special Award at the Stars of Excellence ceremony in October 2012.
A total of 18 projects from the sixth cycle were showcased during the graduation ceremony attended by Professor Michael Richmond, acting chief of Medical, Academic and Research Affairs at HMC.
More than 40 HMC physicians from 18 different clinical departments participated in the course, using the skills taught in the classroom to design unique approaches to problems in their departments.
The range of problems they tackled included reducing infection rates, improving handovers and examination documentation, patient satisfaction and other issues that have valuable impacts on HMC. The results of their projects were wide-ranging.
CCITP programme manager Dr Reham Negmeldin said: “The CCITP was tailored to bring in physicians to lead quality improvement. Physicians are getting inspired, they are exceeding our expectations, they are leading, they are learning. They are enjoying what they are doing by spreading the knowledge to their team members. And some are coming back as coaches for new teams.”
She said the programme is being aligned with bigger projects like the newly launched Hamad Healthcare Quality Institute and the clinical fellowship programme offered with the Institute for Healthcare Improvement.
In all, up to 220 physicians from across all eight HMC hospitals have been trained over the past six cycles, taking part in around 93 projects in all disciplines. A total of 38 coaches have also been trained to assist participants in the programme.
CCITP Coach of the Coaches Dr Sajith Pillai explained that coaching is one of the three pillars that make the programme work.
“We provide training to coaches in order to cope with all issues concerning the programme. We provide them with the skills on conflict management and leadership. Coaches also get certificates and Continuing Medical Education points. We provide ongoing training to them as well,” Pillai said.
Meanwhile, the CCITP will begin its seventh cycle in September with more physicians from around different clinical departments expected to participate.
