Resident Expectations
All 2nd year pediatric residents will participate in a quality improvement project.
Residents will sign up for a project, with ~ 3-5 residents per team.
Sign up will occur in June 2025.
Projects will kick off at 8/15/25 QI Bootcamp session.
At least one member of your team should meet with your faculty mentor each month. This person(s) should also update all required milestones and related documents on the site for that month, in order to track your team progress. You are responsible for assigning a team member to do this each month.
Dedicated time to work on your projects is as follows:
During electives: You are allowed to use 2 half days during all elective rotations to work on your QI Project. You can decide when to use this time.
Administrative time prior to block education sessions.
Groups should plan and implement 2 interventions over the span of the project.
Groups are expected to present updates at a Lunch & Learn in January or February, exact date TBD.
Groups will present a final poster at the annual MMCGME Quality Forum which is typically held at the end of May. The submission date for the final projects is typically in late April.
Faculty Mentor Expectations
Participate in the kick off on 8/15/25.
Residents will have dedicated time to work on their projects as outlined above. At least one member of the group is required to meet with and update you monthly. They are expected to track progress in the Google Site.
Help resident teams troubleshoot projects, including identifying a SMART AIM, planning and implementing 2 interventions, and collecting/analyzing and presenting data. Faculty will not take primary responsibility for any of these tasks but will assist residents in the process and provide guidace, contacts, etc.
Attend the annual MMCGME Quality Forum, which is typically held at the end of May each year.
Factors to consider
[PLEASE REVIEW THIS AT THE START OF YOUR PROJECTS!]
As you get started, please consider:
Do I need to submit something to the IRB? How do I know what data is available? Can I request help with obtaining data?
If you plan to publish or present this work other than at the MMCGME Quality Forum, then the answer to this is yes, you should plan to submit something to the IRB. Many QI projects are deemed “not human subjects research” but you need to have the IRB determine this. Please work with your faculty mentor on this. You will want to be very clear about what is being done in order to avoid confusion and create a situation that leads to unnecessary full IRB approval. There may still sometimes be projects that require full IRB approval, but these should be rare.
Do we plan to seek ABP MOC Part 4 credit for this work?
All residents need to ensure they are up-to-date on annual HIPAA training, which is a requirement from the GME Office for all residents.
For site-specific IRB and data-related resources, see below:
UMN
UMN IRB Site: https://research.umn.edu/units/irb
HRP-503 Research Determination Form: https://research.umn.edu/units/irb/toolkit-library/templates-forms
IT Consult: https://fairview.service-now.com/sp?id=sc_cat_item&sys_id=42f6ae1bdb493b443ad6ef92ca9619b5
Best Practices Integrated Informatics Core (BPIC) - data resource through UMN, can request a consult: https://ctsi.umn.edu/services/data-informatics/find-access-data
Children's
Qi project group + mentor should email Katie Brunsberg (Katie.Brunsberg@childrensmn.org) and Amanda Nickel (Amanda.Nickel@childrensmn.org) to arrange an initial meeting to discuss IRB, data, etc. requirements.
HCMC
Human Research Protection Office: https://www.hhrinstitute.org/researcher-resources/ohsr/
Manual for Conducting Human Research: https://www.hhrinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/501-MANUAL-Conducting-Human-Research.pdf
Refer specifically to page 16 - "If you need a determination letter from the IRB that the research is not human research (e.g., to obtain or access data from a source; to publish results; to confirm a complicated project), you may complete an initial submission in Cause HE to request: not human research determination."
QA/QI Guidance: https://www.hhrinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/199-GUIDANCE-QA-QI-activities.pdf
General Information and Tools
QI Bootcamp slides:
Tools to consider:
YouTube has many helpful videos on how to do data analysis in Excel including calculating values such as median, standard deviation and creating charts such as run charts, process control charts, etc. Just search what you want, such as "Excel Pareto Chart"
You can also use Excel Data Analysis Tools - histogram, pareto, etc. (Download as Microsoft Excel version to best use tools). YouTube videos are overall easier to understand than this document.
M Health Toolkit - includes A3, process mapping, timeline, process control charts, etc. - very comprehensive tool but likely more than is needed/necessary for these projects. Ok to use other simplified tools listed below or your own templates.
Presenting & Publising info
SQUIRE Guidelines: https://www.squire-statement.org/
Meetings to consider:
2025-2026 QI Project Folders
Included below are the Drive folders for the AY 2025-2026 QI Projects. Be sure to upload all completed items into your project folders, so that you can easily keep track of your progress.
Clinical Guideline Development for Acute Migraines
Discharge Criteria to Facilitate Timely Discharge
Embracing SIMPL-icity for Resident Feedback and Evaluation in Pediatric Hospital Medicine
Embracing SIMPL-icity in the Newborn Intensive Care Unit: Real time & effective EPA-based resident feedback
Implementation of a Protocol for Substance Use Disorder and Breastfeeding
Improving outcomes in juvenile idiopathic arthritis
Referrals to County Asthma Home Visiting Programs
Project Timeline & Assignments
Please be sure to copy assignment templates into your project folder before editing.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - -
All assignments include tools/templates for your convenience, though feel free to use any alternative templates, as long as the assignment is completed.
Block 2 (7/28 - 8/24)
Complete your project AIM, metrics, stakeholders, etc.
How will you get your data?
Options to consider include: manual collection, EHR tools such as SlicerDicer, Power BI, IT request for data. See site specific info related to data in "Factors to Consider" section above.
How might you display your data?
Options to consider: run chart, process control chart
Complete a Key Driver Diagram for your project.
Create one for your project (use this template or create your own)
Complete a Process Map for your project.
Create one for your project (use this template or create your own)
Optional: Complete a project A3.
Block 3 (8/25 - 9/21)
Continue to work on assignments listed in Block 2. These should be completed by the end of Block 3.
Collect and review pre-intervention data. If you need an IRB determination, please ensure a designation is complete BEFORE you collect any data.
Start planning your interventions, with a minimum expectation of 2 PDSA cycles over the course of the project.
Blocks 4 - 6 (9/22 - 12/14)
Implement an initial change/intervention.
Complete a Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) diagram.
Begin to measure and collect data.
Block 7 (12/15 - 1/11)
Continue to collect data.
Complete one of the following tools:
Failure Modes Effect Analysis (FMEA)
Pareto Chart
Prepare to present an update at Lunch & Learn in January.
Block 8 (1/12 - 2/8)
Implement a 2nd change/intervention.
Complete an updated PDSA diagram.
Discuss the strength of your interventions.
These can be listed in the PDSA worksheet
Present at Lunch & Learn - exact date TBD.
Blocks 9 - 10 (2/9 - 4/5)
Ongoing intervention and data collection.
Begin formatting abstract/slides for final presentation at MMCGME QI Forum.
Block 11 (4/6 - 5/3)
Finalize data collection.
Complete abstract/slides and submit to MMCGME QI Forum.
Block 12 (5/4 - 5/31)
Complete and submit MOC Part 4 paperwork
See specific links in the "Factors to Consider" section above.
🎉Present your project at MMCGME QI Forum.🎉