Center for Advancing Pediatric Excellence

Background

Levine Children's Hospital's Center for Advancing Pediatric Excellence (CAPE), in Charlotte, NC, is committed to transforming the care for all children who enter our doors and are cared for by our physicians and clinicians.

Rationale

There is an increasing expectation for pediatricians to demonstrate excellent health outcomes for children. These requirements derive from many sources. For residents, these requirements come from the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) and include competencies of Practice-Based Learning and Improvement and Systems-Based Practice. Residents are dedicated and passionate about providing the best possible care for their patients. Unfortunately, the Quality Improvement (QI) methods needed to provide that care have not been broadly taught during pediatric training, therefore few residents have had experience practicing those methods. The curriculum will provide you with well-researched and tested material to build your capacity to recognize, understand, and facilitate QI in healthcare. It will also provide a transferable knowledge base for your future practice. Specific goals for each year are:

Year One:

• Begin learning QI terminology, methodology and data through didactic lectures, web-based modules and readings.
• Conduct a Personal Improvement Project (PIP) and a Reflective Practice Project (RPP).
• Learn about ongoing QI projects from presentations at departmental and Levine Children's Hospital QI Forums.
• Incorporate QI into daily work and utilize QI Coach.

Year Two:

• Continue QI methodology learning through didactic lectures, web-based modules and readings.
• Identify and utilize a QI faculty mentor.
• Participate as an active team member on a current QI project or initiate your own project.
• Learn from ongoing QI project presentations at Levine Children's Hospital QI Forums and departmental meetings.
• Learn about sustainability of projects and/or participate in a project hand-off.

Year Three:

• Continue QI methodology learning through didactic lectures, web-based modules and readings.
• Participate as a resident champion (utilizing faculty mentor and QI Coach) on your existing QI project or identify a new QI project to champion.
• Present your QI project at a Levine Children's Hospital QI Forum or other scholarly forum.
• Hand off project and discuss sustainability.

Quality Improvement Coaching Conference

In the fall, CAPE hosts an annual Quality Improvement Coaching Conference (QuICC) where fellows present current QI projects and benefit from collaboration with faculty and participants. For more information, please email Sarah Mabus. View our Brochure.

Awards

The QI curriculum has been awarded the Children’s Hospital Association Pediatric Quality Award in the Delivery System Transformation category. Every other year, this award honors and spreads successful improvement initiatives that children’s hospitals can replicate. Award judges commended the program for addressing a need for QI training upstream and noted the ability this program has to impact care far beyond the walls of Levine Children's Hospital as trainees disseminate this QI culture upon graduation.

An evaluation of the program can be found in the February 2016 issue of the Journal of Graduate Medical Education in the Educational Innovation section.

Pediatric resident's QI work is recognized annually at the enterprise-wide Atrium Health Resident and Fellow Quality Improvement Poster Reception sponsored by Atrium Health's Graduate Medical Education department, with awards such as “Most Impactful” and “Most Innovative.” We're proud of our residents' research. Explore their work:

• "Improving Pediatrics Sepsis Outcomes, Reducing Time to First Appropriate Antibiotic in Cases of Sepsis"
• "Reducing Central Line Associated Bloodstream Infections by Optimizing Bundle Compliance"

Resident Project Examples

Reducing Central Line Associated Bloodstream Infections by Optimizing Bundle Compliance

Improving Pediatrics Sepsis Outcomes, Reducing Time to First Appropriate Antibiotic in Cases of Sepsis

CAPE Team

For more information, contact the CAPE Team.

Laura Noonan, MD Program Director	Cheryl Courtlandt, MD Program Director	Sarah Mabus, MLA Program Manager
Shalu Garcha, MHA, CPHQ Quality Improvement Coach