Newsroom

The Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine’s innovative patient safety course and how to incorporate it into an academic curriculum was on display at the 2022 Institute for Healthcare Improvement Forum in Orlando, Florida. 

Frank Filipetto, DO, CPPS, FACOFP, dean of TCOM, and Lillee Gelinas DNP, RN, CPPS, FAAN, and TCOM assistant professor and patient safety section director presented how TCOM developed and implemented the patient safety course into the third-year medical school curriculum to several leaders from graduate health care programs from around the United States.  

“Patient safety has to be a priority, and those of us in the profession have an obligation to fill in the very serious gap and opportunity in medical education to prepare medical students and early career physicians with robust knowledge and competencies right now,” Filipetto said.   

TCOM is the first and only medical school in the nation to offer a course that includes the CPPS review course content and exam medical education. Since the certification program was launched more than 10 years ago by the National Patient Safety Foundation prior to their merger with IHI, more than 5,000 patient safety professionals representing all 50 states in the U.S. and 30 different countries across the world have earned the CPPS credential.  

In just two short years, TCOM has integrated patient safety into the medical school curriculum, offering a course specifically designed to prepare students for the Certified Professional in Patient SafetyTM  exam. 

The innovative curriculum was developed by TCOM faculty member Janet Lieto, DO, FACOFP, CMD, CPPS, and Gelinas as part of the professional identity and health systems practice course to address the patient safety problem within the health care system.  

Filipetto discussed the strategic vision and value of the program, its importance of patient safety for medical students and the support TCOM received from the leadership of The University of North Texas Health Science Center at Fort Worth.  

“We couldn’t have done this without the support of our then president and now chancellor, Dr. Michael Williams,” Filipetto said. “HSC was committed to supporting this initiative from the start. Along with our leadership within TCOM, Dr. David Mason and Dr. Albert Yurvati, we were able to get complete buy-in from everyone to make this happen.” 

The support of patient safety and improvement in health care from HSC is getting stronger as President Sylvia Trent-Adams, Ph.D., RN, FAAN, was recently appointed to the IHI Board of Directors.  

Gelinas described the academic operations and implementation of the curriculum development, which utilized IHI patient safety and quality improvement resources. She discussed the structure of the two-week intensive course, which culminates in students sitting for the CPPS certification exam.  

“In addition to helping our students become changemakers for better patient care in the future, achieving the CPPS credential and having the patient safety course listed on their transcript gives them a professional advantage as they apply for residency,” Gelinas said. “Student testimonials reflect the value of what they learned from the course.”  

One TCOM student’s anonymous testimonial echoed the feelings of many:

“Overall, I learned a lot about teamwork, leadership, and patient safety. I feel I will be a more well-rounded physician because of this course.” 

Filipetto and Gelinas highlighted that 94% of TCOM students have passed the exam compared to the national and international average pass rate of 72%. Since the inception of the program, more than 530 TCOM students and graduates have completed the course and earned the CPPS credential. TCOM faculty, students and graduates account for 10% of all providers with the CPPS credential in the world.  

Certification in patient safety demonstrates a personal and professional commitment to the patients and families who trust physicians to do no harm while providing evidence-based, compassionate care. 

The CPPS™ credential is awarded to those who pass a board certification examination covering five patient safety domains: culture, leadership, patient safety risks and solutions, measuring and improving performance, systems thinking and design and human factors. 

For more than 30 years, the IHI has been the globally renowned home of improvement in health and health care. The IHI Forum is an annual four-day conference featuring more than 100 expert-led sessions across nine tracks, including leadership, equity, patient and workforce safety, population health and workforce well-being.  

• Share
• Tweet