Academy for Healthcare Improvement

A team of educators from Memorial University in Newfoundland was presented with the inaugural Duncan Neuhauser Award for Curricular Innovation at the AHI Annual Meeting in Orlando, Florida on December 7, 2009. The award was established this year to honor the many contributions of Duncan Neuhauser, PhD to the teaching of quality improvement throughout his distinguished career. Dr. Neuhauser serves as the Charles Elton Blanchard, M.D. Professor of Health Management at the Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. Dr. Linda Headrick (University of Missouri School of Medicine) described how this award recognizes Dr. Neuhauser’s many contributions, especially his coaching/mentoring of teachers around the world: "If all the people who identify Duncan Neuhauser as an important influence in their own teaching about quality improvement and patient safety were here standing in a line, that line would go out the door, down the hall, down the steps and into the street."

Dr. Duncan Neuhauser and Dr. Linda Headrick, 2009 AHI Scientific Symposium

The winning curricular submission: "Teaching Collaboration Competencies in Clinical Training: Where the Rubber Hits the Road," was developed to support the teaching of improving teamwork, and was utilized in the context of a Psychiatry clerkship. The curriculum included three components: (1) A PowerPoint presentation on collaboration, (2) a Clerk’s Guide to Interprofessional Practice-based Learning, and (3) a Competency Reflection Journal, in which learners were prompted to reflect constructively on interprofessional experiences during their clerkship. The authors of this curriculum included Olga Heath, PhD, Hubert White, MD, David Craig, MD, Ted Callanan, MD, and Patti McCarthy, MsC. Dr. White accepted the award on behalf of the group from Memorial University at the AHI Meeting. You can gain access to this creative curricular material at this link: http://a4hi.org/?q=node/96

Dr. Les Hall presents the Duncan Neuhauser Award to Dr. Hubert White, 2009 AHI Scientific Symposium

The second place award winner for curricular innovation was submitted by a team from the Saskatchewan Health Quality Council. Designed for an undergraduate interprofessional group of health professionals in training, "An Adaptable Interdisciplinary Methodology for Integrated QI Curriculum into Undergraduate Health Science Education" provides a wonderful overview of the background and science of improvement in health care. We would invite you to review this valuable curricular material, developed by Christina Southey, TalyorBassingthwaite, Katherine Stevenson, and Tanya Verrall at this link: http://a4hi.org/?q=node/97

The second annual Duncan Neuhauser Award for Curricular Innovation will be awarded at the 2010 AHI Annual Meeting in Orlando, Florida on Decembrer 6, 2010. Information about the criteria and submission process for this award will be announced on this website within the next few months.