Impacting the Next Generation: Teaching Quality and Patient Safety

Abstract

QI and PS skills are essential for anesthesiologists to ensure optimal patient care. It is imperative that anesthesia resident education on QI and PS incorporate an experiential component and, ideally, residents should be included in departmental and institutional efforts in QI and PS. Future efforts should focus on best practices for teaching QI and PS, and guidance on the optimal way to incorporate QI and PS into the anesthesia resident curriculum. Practicing anesthesiologists, whether in academic or in private institutions, should also acquire training in QI and PS. In addition to providing resources to train anesthesiologists in QI and PS, institutions and anesthesia departments should generate a culture of QI and PS, which communicates institutional PS goals, provides infrastructure to enable effective QI and PS work, and engages employees in multidisciplinary endeavors in improving patient care and outcomes. Through further development of resident and faculty curriculum on QI and PS, the dedication of departmental and institutional resources for QI and PS, and creation of a culture of PS, the next generation of anesthesiologists will be empowered to provide optimal care for all patients.