Measuring the Success of a Patient Safety or Quality Improvement Project (Patient Safety VI)

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Measuring the Success of a Patient Safety or Quality Improvement Project (Patient Safety VI)

This course is part of Patient Safety Specialization

Instructor: Matt Austin

6,123 already enrolled

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4 modules

Gain insight into a topic and learn the fundamentals.

97 reviews

7 hours to complete

Flexible schedule

Learn at your own pace

4 modules

Gain insight into a topic and learn the fundamentals.

97 reviews

7 hours to complete

Flexible schedule

Learn at your own pace

What you'll learn

Describe why measurement is important to quality improvement work.
Locate external sources of quality and safety measures and associated performance data.
Identify those data that are useful for monitoring and evaluating quality improvement projects.

Skills you'll gain

Details to know

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Add to your LinkedIn profile

Assessments

3 assignments¹

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Taught in English

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This course is part of the Patient Safety Specialization

When you enroll in this course, you'll also be enrolled in this Specialization.

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There are 4 modules in this course

How will you know if your patient safety and quality project is meeting its objectives? Peter Drucker once said “What gets measured, gets managed.” In this course, students will learn why measurement is critical to quality improvement work. Equally important, they will learn which data sources provide the most meaningful information and tools for how and where to locate them. Finally, students will learn how to interpret data from their patient safety and quality projects to guide and modify them during implementation to maximize their chances of making a difference for patients.

In this module, learners will develop an understanding of what is performance measurement in healthcare, what constitutes a “good” performance measure, and basic frameworks that have been used for categorizing measures. Learners will become familiar with some of the well-known entities involved in performance measurement in healthcare and key challenges in the field.

What's included

8 videos1 assignment

8 videosTotal 65 minutes

Performance Measurement in Patient Safety and Quality9 minutes
Donabedian's Model6 minutes
Performance Measurement Domains5 minutes
Specifying a Performance Measure and Common Data Source for Measurement11 minutes
A Global Example of Performance Measurement in Healthcare: The International Consortium for Health Outcomes Measurement8 minutes
Names to Know and Properties of a Good Measure9 minutes
Challenges with Performance Measurement7 minutes
Copy of Performance Measurement in Patient Safety and Quality9 minutes

1 assignmentTotal 30 minutes

Module 1 Quiz30 minutes

In this module, learners will gain knowledge of the primary audiences for publicly reported performance measure sand some of the key measures that are currently reported. Learners will be exposed to some of the key websites that publicly report performance data and hear from a health system leader about some of the benefits and challenges of having a hospital’s quality and safety performance publicly available.

What's included

10 videos1 peer review

10 videosTotal 55 minutes

History, Objectives, & Key Examples7 minutes
Evidence of Impact & Maximizing the Benefits10 minutes
Hospital Readmissions4 minutes
HCAHPS6 minutes
Hospital Mortality4 minutes
HAIs5 minutes
Hospital Compare6 minutes
Interview with Renee Demski6 minutes
Exploring the Leapfrog Group4 minutes
Exploring My NHS4 minutes

1 peer reviewTotal 120 minutes

Hospital Compare120 minutes

In this module, learners will develop an understanding of the different tools that are available to analyze data used in quality and safety improvement work and how the data can be visualized for different audiences.Two case studies will be shared to demonstrate how these data analysis and visualization tools can be used in a real-life setting.

What's included

6 videos1 assignment

In this module, learners will be exposed to how mixed-methods research, which includes integrating qualitative and quantitative data together, can be used successfully in quality improvement projects.Learners will also become familiar with how data and measures are used to evaluate the success of a quality improvement project. Two case studies will be shared to demonstrate how these concepts have been used in real-life quality improvement projects.

What's included

5 videos1 assignment

5 videosTotal 48 minutes

A Mixed Methods Approach7 minutes
Use of Quantitative & Qualitative Data in QI Projects6 minutes
Case Study: Improving Family Engagement in FCR7 minutes
Using Data & Measures to Evaluate the Success of an Improvement Project13 minutes
Case Study: Improving Medication Reconciliation on Hospital Admission15 minutes

1 assignmentTotal 30 minutes

Module 4 Quiz30 minutes

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Instructor

Instructor ratings

(25 ratings)

Matt Austin

Johns Hopkins University

1 Course6,123 learners

Offered by

Johns Hopkins University

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Reviewed on Feb 15, 2026

Glad I chose this platform to study and learn. It was user-friendly, and I felt I was in a classroom.

Reviewed on Nov 19, 2021

measuring the success in healthcare is really challenging. This course helped me to understand the metrics used for quality improvement projects and how can we sustain such type of improvements.

Reviewed on Jul 19, 2020

I want to thank you JHU and Coursera for this course, but I think this could be a better experience if you provide some literature about the different cases seen on the course.

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Frequently asked questions

To access the course materials, assignments and to earn a Certificate, you will need to purchase the Certificate experience when you enroll in a course. You can try a Free Trial instead, or apply for Financial Aid. The course may offer 'Full Course, No Certificate' instead. This option lets you see all course materials, submit required assessments, and get a final grade. This also means that you will not be able to purchase a Certificate experience.

When you enroll in the course, you get access to all of the courses in the Specialization, and you earn a certificate when you complete the work. Your electronic Certificate will be added to your Accomplishments page - from there, you can print your Certificate or add it to your LinkedIn profile.

Yes. In select learning programs, you can apply for financial aid or a scholarship if you can’t afford the enrollment fee. If fin aid or scholarship is available for your learning program selection, you’ll find a link to apply on the description page.