Clinical Fellowship in Quality and Safety Leadership
Clinical Fellowship in Quality and Safety Leadership
The Clinical Fellowship in Quality and Safety Leadership at Nationwide Children’s Hospital provides fellows the experience and tools to drive improvements in quality of care and patient safety and ultimately lead quality and safety programs in hospitals and hospital systems. Graduates will be well prepared to eventually assume leadership positions such as Chief Quality and Safety Officer, Medical Director for Quality Improvement or Chief Medical Officer.
This two-year, fully funded fellowship admits one trainee per year on or about July 1. The program is integrated with the Masters of Business Operational Excellence (MBOE) at The Ohio State University Fisher College of Business. A stipend is included for the appropriate level of training and MBOE program costs. This fellowship program is unique in that it is both pediatric-focused and leads to an advanced degree.
The fellowship program utilizes a mixture of didactic training, smallgroup/ seminar discussions, teaching and hands-on, experiential learning opportunities to broaden competencies. The fellow is exposed to several areas within the hospital’s quality infrastructure, including designing and implementing quality and safety initiatives, quality strategic planning, accreditation and certifications, physician performance evaluation and root cause analyses. The fellow also will have direct access to and learn from senior leaders and executives at Nationwide Children’s.
Download Fellowship BrochureWhat You Need to Know
Program Timeline, Structure and Competencies
The fellowship begins in July with rotations in various areas of quality and safety at Nationwide Children’s, followed by the Quality Improvement Essentials course, which has trained over 250 leaders at Nationwide Children’s and elsewhere.
In December, the fellow will begin the Masters of Business Operational Excellence (MBOE) at The Ohio State University Fisher College of Business, which will be completed over the ensuing 12 months, while continuing to be engaged in a variety of activities at Nationwide Children’s.
The final six months of the fellowship will focus on leading and coordinating a portfolio of quality and safety initiatives and finalizing manuscripts for submission to peer reviewed journals.
Program Structure
- Clinical Experience - Twenty percent of the fellow’s time is dedicated to patient care in the appropriate specialty, which helps in maintaining clinical and/or operative skills, as well as integrating patient care with the quality and safety issues emphasized in other aspects of the fellowship.
- Didactic Training - Structured didactic education will take place through multiple methods. These include participation in an internal Quality Improvement Essentials course and didactic sessions in the MBOE program.
- Experiential Training - The foundation of the fellowship is ongoing, hands-on, experiential training in quality and safety. The fellow will lead quality improvement projects through the Quality Improvement Essentials course and the Capstone Project in the MBOE program. The fellow will be integrated into every aspect of the quality and safety structure at Nationwide Children’s.
- Conferences, Seminars and Book Club - The fellow will participate in conferences, seminars, and journal clubs. The fellow will lead a “book club” covering relevant texts regarding quality, safety and leadership.
- Teaching - The fellow will become an educator of quality improvement and safety in the Quality Improvement Essentials course and in the clinical curriculum of residents and fellows at Nationwide Children’s Hospital.
- Scholarly Productivity - The fellow will be expected to be the team leader of one or more QI/safety projects, each of which will culminate in an abstract, presentation at an external meeting and publication in a peer reviewed journal. The fellow will serve as an ad hoc reviewer for the Pediatric Quality and Safety Journal.
Developed Competencies
At the end of the program, the fellow will have demonstrated competency in:
- Core Quality and Safety Concepts
- Hospital Safety, including Event Reporting, Safety Huddles and Root Cause Analysis
- Population Health
- Information Technology in Health Care
- QI Methodology including the IHI model, Lean and Six Sigma (including Six Sigma Black Belt certification)
- The Accreditation Process
- Biostatistics and Statistical Process Control
- Risk Management
- Leadership, Strategy and Motivation
- Scientific Writing
“Our fellows graduate with an expertise in translating quality improvement theory into sustainable changes in clinical practice. It is a privilege and joy to train the next generation of leaders in quality and safety.”
Julie Samora, MD, PhD, MPH
Director, Clinical Quality and Safety Leadership Fellowship
Medical Director for Quality
Masters of Business Operational Excellence (MBOE)
The Ohio State University Fisher College of Business' Masters of Business Operational Excellence (MBOE), with an additional specialized track in Health Care, is an innovative, 12-month degree program. This dynamic program focuses on preparing high-potential managers for leadership in the rapidly changing, continuous improvement environment found in service, health care and manufacturing organizations.
This program is designed to create lean thought leaders with a bias for action. As a result of the MBOE experience, managers will learn how to achieve operational excellence by utilizing a variety of Lean and Six Sigma tools, including value stream management, employee engagement, waste reduction, capability building and innovation.
The MBOE program is structured to provide intense periods of oncampus learning, followed with practical application of the concepts, through an integrative Capstone Project. A mentor is assigned to the fellow through the program and works closely with the mentors at Nationwide Children’s to guide the fellow’s education and improvement projects.
Learn more about the Masters of Business Operational Excellence program.
Why Choose Nationwide Children's
Nationwide Children’s has been honored for our commitment to quality and safety with the following awards:
- Nationwide Children’s Named to Forbes’ 2021 America’s Best Employers for Diversity List
- Nationwide Children’s Named to List of 15 Most Innovative Children’s Hospitals by Parents Magazine in 2021
- Nationwide Children’s Hospital Awarded the 2020 Hearst Health Prize
Learn more about awards and achievements and quality and safety at Nationwide Children's Hospital.
Ranked in all 10 specialties on U.S. News & World Report’s Honor Roll, Nationwide Children’s is one of the nation’s largest not-for-profit freestanding pediatric health care networks providing wellness, preventive, diagnostic, treatment and rehabilitative care for infants, children and adolescents, as well as adult patients with congenital disease.
- Nationwide Children’s has a medical staff of 1,448 and over 12,000 employees providing state-of-the-art pediatric care for more than 1.5 million patient visits annually. As home to the Department of Pediatrics of The Ohio State University College of Medicine, Nationwide Children’s physicians train the next generation of pediatricians, pediatric surgeons and pediatric specialists.
- The Abigail Wexner Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital is one of the Top 5 National Institutes of Health-funded freestanding pediatric research facilities.
- Nationwide Children’s remains true to the original mission since its founding in 1892 of providing care regardless of a family’s ability to pay.
- Columbus, the state capital of Ohio, is a thriving, diverse and technologically sophisticated city.
“’Quality and safety’” are not just words on paper at Nationwide Children’s; they are at the heart of our institutional values. We believe quality and safety are as crucial for the future of health care as scientific and medical discovery. The knowledge and experience gained here positions a motivated fellow to become a leader in the future.””
Timothy C. Robinson
Chief Executive Officer
Faculty
“This fully funded fellowship is a truly outstanding opportunity for someone interested in advancing their career and work in quality and patient safety. Not only will they acquire, solidify, and grow their quality and patient safety knowledge and skills, while also earning a Master’s of Business Operational Excellence from The Ohio State University, but they will get to do so while being part of the Nationwide Children’s Hospital team. Being part of this team is why it is more than just an educational program. It is a transformative experience whereby one learns how applying the science of improvement coupled with a One Team culture can lead to the best outcomes.”
Rustin Morse, MD
Chief Medical Officer
Application and Selection
Eligible physicians will have completed an ACGME-accredited residency program with or without sub-specialty fellowship training. It may also be combined with a fellowship in a clinical training area by supplementing a portion of that fellowship’s research commitment.
Applicants should send the following:
- Curriculum vitae
- Statement indicating the reasons for your interest in quality and safety, and the fellowship program at Nationwide Children’s Hospital
- Three letters of recommendation from mentors with whom you have worked
Application Submission
Submit to Rhonda.Colborn@NationwideChildrens.org or mail to:
Rhonda Colborn
Program Coordinator, Clinical Fellowship in Quality and Safety Leadership
700 Children’s Drive
Columbus, OH 43205
Contact
For more information, please contact:
Julie Balch Samora, MD, PhD, MPH
Program Director
Julie.Samora@NationwideChildrens.org
Rhonda Colborn
Program Coordinator
Rhonda.Colborn@NationwideChildrens.org
