House Officer Education and Organizational Obstacles to Quality Improvement

This work states that senior clinicians and department officials should endorse organizational problem solving as a legitimate, appropriate, and valuable activity for every well-trained physician.

Abstract

Department chairs, residency program directors, and senior clinicians should create opportunities for house officers to participate in interdisciplinary problem-solving teams. Medical faculty should instruct house officers in the principles and practice of quality improvement, integrating this material into existing teaching conferences and other educational activities. Instruction should be case based, data intensive, and jargon free, modeled by clinicians with training and experience in quality management and related disciplines. Senior clinicians and department officials should endorse organizational problem solving as a legitimate, appropriate, and valuable activity for every well-trained physician.