The American College of Surgeons (ACS) has issued a new quality improvement course for surgeons. The "Quality Improvement Course: The Basics" aims to teach surgeons and their teams about fundamental quality improvement (QI) principles. "All stakeholders who are interested in quality improvement should take the course in order to understand and use the same terminology as everyone else, be able to go through the steps of quality improvement in a logical fashion and be able to address common barriers to quality improvement," said course co-developer Lillian Kao, MD, MS, FACS, of the University of Texas. The approximately 20-hour-long course features the ACS Quality Improvement Course Workbook with activities for presenting content to unique care settings. Its modules cover an introduction to QI, the QI process, data measurement/analysis, change management, patient safety and leadership and teamwork for QI. Clifford Y. Ko, MD, MS, MSHS, FACS, FASCRS, director of the ACS Division of Research and Optimal Patient Care, said the course "will help to both educate and optimize the improvement efforts being undertaken in all specialties and settings."

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