Training for quality management: Report on a nationwide distance learning initiative for physicians in Spain

Abstract

Under the sponsorship of a pharmaceutical firm, a distance-learning course on Quality Management methods was developed at the University of Murcia (Spain) and offered nationwide to primary health care physicians working in the public system. A total of 7104 physicians (47.7% of the census) signed up (at least one in 92.2% of the health centres). The course content follows the author's model of quality improvement, monitoring and design trilogy, but focuses mainly on methods for a quality improvement cycle using a learning-by-doing and problem-solving approach. The unexpected success of this initiative has led us to reflect on the interest in learning about quality improvement methods shown by physicians, the usefulness of the distance-learning approach, and also to continue the project with new initiatives such as: a summary poster, software containing all the necessary tools and data analysis for quality improvement, and a manual.