Resident and Fellow Elective Rotation Information

Residents and fellows of ACGME-accredited programs have an opportunity for elective rotation experience in patient safety. This builds on the patient safety integrated into their specialty program curriculum.

The competency-based goals and objectives for the safety rotation can be found on the goals and objectives page. The rotation experience, in addition to the reading materials, didactics and journal club discussions provided, includes:

• Performing patient and process tracers and mapping processes related to safety
• Implementing system assessment strategies to identify system errors, risks, hazards and opportunities for improvement
• Participation in patient safety and M&M conferences in addition to the trainee’s own departmental conferences
• Identifying critical actions and behaviors that contribute to safety
• Designing a patient safety initiative for development that continues beyond the rotation
• Developing and/or refining strategies for improving team-based care and communication within his/her specialty

Patient safety will be considered in various aspects of healthcare delivery, including: medication safety, device safety, and communication—including electronic medical records and other information technology. Involvement in root cause analysis and failure modes and effects analysis will be used as training opportunities.

The resident/fellow is expected to maintain his/her continuity clinic during this rotation to maintain continuity of care, to remain grounded in his/her specialty and to see his/her practice processes through fresh safety-focused perspective.

Fellowship Information

University of Florida College of Medicine – Jacksonville sponsors a one-year fellowship in patient safety as a year of immersion in studying clinical errors, human factors and principles of patient safety. The patient safety fellow’s work encompasses learning and leadership in applying:

• Principles of patient safety, including human factors and hazard analysis
• Measurement and monitoring of quality and safety
• Physician engagement in system initiatives
• Dissemination of improvement and innovation across a system
• Integration of patient safety into graduate (GME) and undergraduate medical education (medical student) curricula - development of innovative ways to train physicians while holding the patient’s safety and quality of care as paramount

The campus boasts national and international faculty leaders in quality and safety and in simulation education. The fellow works with these program faculty, as well as physician quality champions of the various UF College of Medicine – Jacksonville departments. In addition, key hospital leaders engaged in patient safety and quality improvement will contribute to the learning experience. The UF Health Jacksonville Patient Safety Officer and hospital administration enthusiastically support this fellowship.

The UF Center for Simulation Education and Safety Research (CSESaR) facility and staff will play a key role in this fellowship, as simulation training and assessment are growing resources in patient safety. The fellow will develop training tools and strategies that will measurably improve physician competence and patient safety and quality outcomes, using the following components:

• Organization and structure of simulation scenarios
• Briefing and debriefing of simulation scenarios
• Testing and validation of simulation training
• Education methodologies for facilitating simulation training in various clinical specialties
• Education methodologies for facilitating multidisciplinary scenario development, training and evaluation

Teaching Conferences

The patient safety fellow is provided with literature, tools and didactic curriculum by which to build a library of resources.

The fellow is responsible for assisting with patient safety training for residents, fellows and hospital staff. The fellow designs and leads simulation scenarios for team-training and patient safety improvement. Moreover, the patient safety fellow becomes a resource to graduate medical education (GME) leaders and faculty for clinical outcomes and performance improvement endeavors (well beyond data gathering).

Committees

The patient safety fellow plays an important role in contributing to the Patient Safety Committee and Performance Improvement Committee, and through active participation and leadership, becomes familiar with roles of individuals and workgroups throughout the hospital involved in influencing patient safety and error reduction.

Research

The fellow is expected to participate in incident report and peer reviews, research studies in quality and safety and collaboration with researchers in safety endeavors.

During the course of the fellowship, the patient safety fellow:

• Conducts a practicum in patient safety-initiative/project leadership, with measurable outcomes and institution-wide benefit
• Produces a presentation and publication capturing simulation education impacting patient safety