PSU and OHSU team up to tackle health

What if doctors knew exactly how hospital administrators planned budgets? Would a medical student benefit from a free online class that explained how hospitals are managed?

Corinna scott/VANGUARD STAFF

Kelsey Priest, president of Portland’s Institute of Health Improvement Open School, is focused on bringing more awareness to the program.

Kelsey Priest, the president of Portland’s Institute of Health Improvement Open School, says yes.

“It is a great opportunity to gain knowledge in a field you wouldn’t otherwise be exposed to,” Priest said.

The local chapter of IHI, an interprofessional educational community, offers free online supplemental classes and annual conferences to the medical community.

It was founded in the 1950s by Donald Berwick, a physician frustrated by the health care system, and now has more than 520 chapters in more than 57 countries.

Ultimately, the organization seeks to improve health care quality and patient safety.

Locally, the chapter includes both Portland State and the Oregon Health and Science University. The joining of the two schools brings together the clinical and the administrative and management sides of medicine.

The IHI Open School approaches health care in a new way and provides students with resume benefits and a great learning experience, Priest said.

The chapter is made up of both students and faculty “sharing a common interest in health care improvement, and in improving the health of people and the population,” she explained.

The Portland chapter was created by Dr. Sherril Gelmon and initially only included PSU students.

The organization started off slowly, but in 2011 an upsurge in interest helped the program begin to flourish.

The organization hosted several local events this year, and a few leadership members of the Portland chapter of IHI Open School attended an IHI conference in Boston.

In 2012, Kim Lepin, a student at OHSU, contacted the IHI open school at PSU seeking to create a joint chapter. In May, the Portland chapter came to officially include both PSU and OHSU.

The joint chapter has been incredibly rewarding, Lepin said.

“OHSU students [now] have access to a network of professionals and peers beyond OHSU,” she said.

Priest explained that the PSU/OHSU chapter seeks to connect health care leaders from all around Portland with medical students in the hopes of developing skills in the areas of quality and safety in health care.

The Portland chapter of IHI Open School now seeks to increase the number of its events, recruitment opportunities and quality-improvement projects.

Another goal is to reach more than 100 members and to include other medical institutes throughout the Portland area.

The organization also hopes to one day incorporate IHI Open School into the PSU curriculum, explained Priest, and it would like to hold the first West Coast IHI Open School regional conference.

The most important goal, however, is keeping the organization “sustainable through improved structure,” Priest said. The Portland chapter has become an official organization on the OHSU campus, while at PSU the process is still underway.

One of the benefits of membership in the organization is that students may take free online classes in any field of medicine they choose.

Another important aspect for students is that completion of the open school basic certificate looks great on a resume, and demonstrates to employers the student’s knowledge of quality improvement and patient safety, Priest said.

Members of the organization who hold leadership positions receive the benefit of leadership development as well as a better chance of attending national conferences.

This year, the school has either organized or aided in the coordination of several events, such as the September screening of the documentary Escape Fire, which focuses on American health care.

Next term, expect more events than ever, Priest said. There will be two separate events entitled “What is IHI?” The first will be held on Jan. 17 at OHSU in the BICC building, room 124, from 5 to 6 p.m. The PSU event’s date and time is yet to be set.

Also scheduled this term are several presentations in which a student member of the Portland IHI chapter will pair up with a faculty member to lead a presentation on important health care topics.

Priest noted that the most challenging obstacle that the Portland chapter of the IHI Open School has faced has been simply getting the word out.

Also, since students are so busy, it can be difficult to find members able to fully commit. Other than these minor setbacks, however, Priest feels that the organization has only growth ahead.

With health care such a prominent topic in the U.S. today, it is incredibly valuable for medical students to be exposed to opportunities and organizations, such as the IHI, with goals of quality improvement and patient safety, Priest said.

Any member of the community can join the organization.

For more information, check out the school’s website, sites.google.com/site/ihiopenschoolpsuohsu chapter or send an email to [email protected].