“We need quality improvement now more than ever,” Lori DiPrete Brown, director of the Quality Improvement Leadership Institute, told 2017 closing symposium. for the 2017 Quality Improvement (QI) Leadership Institute at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “Together, we can make life better for those we care for and strengthen our ability to be advocates and architects of system change.”
More than 30 health leaders from a nine countries and Wisconsin joined health science students and medical residents July 24 to 29, engaging with UW health experts, sharing leadership lessons and learning how to apply quality improvement principles to challenges they face. At the closing symposium, they presented concrete plans designed to improve health and well-being in their hospitals, clinics and communities.
DiPrete Brown, an associate director at the UW-Madison Global Health Institute (GHI), underscored the importance of leaders taking actions on an important problem within their sphere of influence. “Addressing problems effectively at the point of care is important for individuals and communities in real time and moves the frontier of what is possible for the overall system,” she said.
“The opportunity to network and learn from each other’s struggles and successes is what makes this program so impactful.”—Sweta Shrestha, assistant QI director
Now in its seventh year, the annual QI Leadership Institute, hosted by the GHI, has included participants from more than 20 countries and Wisconsin. These health leaders learn how to define, implement, measure and sustain quality in low-resource settings. The Institute is built on the importance of leadership, teamwork and collaboration across disciplines. Each year, UW-Madison’s global health leaders also share their experience on a variety of topics, from graduate medical education, health in all policies and climate change to vaccinations and palliative care.