There have been many advancements in medical education over the past 20 years, including how outcomes such as competencies are defined and used to guide teaching and learning. To support this positive change, the AAMC launched the New and Emerging Areas in Medicine series.
This first report in this series (released in 2019 and updated in 2024) focuses on quality improvement and patient safety (QIPS) competencies across the continuum of medical education. It presents a roadmap for curricular and professional development, performance assessment, and improvement of health care services and outcomes.
The competencies can help educators design and deliver curricula and help learners develop professionally. The competencies are for use in:
- Enabling local care settings to tailor their approaches to their own educational and systemic needs.
- Engaging diverse health care professionals--including cross-continuum and cross-discipline colleagues--in collaborative discussions on improving patient safety.
- Conducting gap analyses of local curricula and training programs.
- Planning individual professional development.
- Developing curricular learning objectives and assessment tools.
- Advancing research and scholarship in medical education and quality improvement.
- Guiding the strategic integration of QIPS into the curricula and the clinical learning environment.
- Responding to the emerging challenges and priorities that define QIPS education today.
Updated QIPS Competencies
In September of 2022, an iterative revisioning process began to update the competencies. A diverse, 12-member interprofessional, cross-continuum committee was convened to revise the 2019 competencies under the counsel of several of the original 2019 competency committee members. This iterative process included a thorough literature review, discussion of each QIPS competency, and a public feedback process.
Quality Improvement and Patient Safety Competencies Across the Learning Continuum, Version 2, is now available (September 2024). The updated report aligns with the latest evidence and practices, focusing on patient-centered care, health equity, and interprofessional collaboration. Please email QIPS@aamc.org with questions.