PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - K G Hoffman
AU  - R Margaret A Brown
AU  - J W Gay
AU  - L A Headrick
TI  - How an educational improvement project improved the summative evaluation of medical students
AID  - 10.1136/qshc.2008.027698
DP  - 2009 Aug 01
TA  - Quality and Safety in Health Care
PG  - 283--287
VI  - 18
IP  - 4
4099  - http://qualitysafety.bmj.com/content/18/4/283.short
4100  - http://qualitysafety.bmj.com/content/18/4/283.full
SO  - Qual Saf Health Care2009 Aug 01; 18
AB  - Background: At the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Medicine (USA) “commitment to improving quality and safety in healthcare” is one of eight key characteristics set as goals for our graduates. As educators, commitment to continuous improvement in the educational experience has been modelled through improvement of the Medical Student Performance Evaluation (MSPE) letter (formerly the Dean’s letter).Discussion: This educational improvement project decreased waste, increased collaboration and developed locally useful knowledge. By applying continuous improvement principles to the construction of the MSPE the overall efficiency of the process could be enhanced, and the MSPE committee was able to spend less cognitive energy on structure and format and focus more on the content of the letters. Four MSPE cycles have been completed using a new Web-based system; after each cycle, additional enhancements were identified and implemented. This work adds to the literature, as it describes the application of continuous improvement principles to an educational system.