title: Perspective:  a road map for academic departments to promote scholarship in quality improvement and patient safety.
abstract: The fields of quality improvement and patient safety (QI/PS) continue to grow with greater attention and awareness, increased mandates and incentives, and more research. Academic medical centers and their academic departments have a long-standing tradition for innovation and scholarship within a multifaceted mission to provide patient care, educate the next generation, and conduct research. Academic departments are well positioned to lead the science, education, and application of QI/PS efforts nationally. However, meaningful engagement of faculty and trainees to lead this work is a major barrier. Understanding and developing programs that foster QI/PS work while also promoting a scholarly focus can generate the incentives and acknowledgment to help elevate QI/PS into the academic mission. Academic departments should define and articulate a QI/PS strategy, develop individual and departmental capacity to lead scholarly QI/PS programs, streamline and support access to data, share information and improve collaboration, and recognize and elevate academic success in QI/PS. A commitment to these goals can also serve to cultivate important collaborations between academic departments and their respective medical centers, divisions, and training programs. Ultimately, the elevation of QI/PS into the academic mission can improve the quality and safety of our health care delivery systems.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, USA.
authors.forename: Naama
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Neeman
authors.forename: Niraj L
authors.initials: NL
authors.lastname: Sehgal
mesh_terms: D000046:Academic Medical Centers; D003162:Competency-Based Education; D004501:Education, Medical / Q000592:standards*; D005180:Faculty, Medical; D006801:Humans; D015274:Interdepartmental Relations; D015969:National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine, U.S., Health and Medicine Division; D009936:Organizational Innovation; D061214:Patient Safety; D058996:Quality Improvement; D012106:Research; D012495:San Francisco; D014481:United States