Quality improvement (QI) has a high priority in health care. Many countries have also started programs to develop patient safety. Process and indicator development, bench marking and implementation of changes are the essence in quality development work, where many are involved.  EQuiP wants to support training of researchers in this specific field by organizing international courses.

In the early nineties, for several years, EQuiP organized a summer school on quality improvement in primary care (PC) for young professionals. These summerschools were organized for EQuiP by the Universities of Maastricht and Nijmegen in the Netherlands and were very successful. In 2008 EQuiP decided to restart this initiative with the emphasis on Research in Quality Improvement. There is a need in several countries within the EQuiP family.
The new tradition of summer courses, organised in different countries and on different locations, as to ensure people to have an easy access, started off successfully in Tuusula, Finland in 2009.

In 2011, the summer school is scheduled to take place in Ghent (Belgium) in cooperation between EQuiP, Domus Medica and the Ghent University (Department of Family Medicine and Primary Health Care).

Aims

Bring together twenty young PC professionals and teach them about research in Quality in PC. Support and sustain networking between the participants.

Method

• small group work
• lectures
• case studies
• own work
• preparation before

There is a social program to support networking and meet each other and the teachers; some of the program consists of visits to local quality projects.

Target group

The target group comprises of researchers and others (physicians, nurses, allied health professionals) who want to learn about research of quality improvement in health care. The focus is not on a specific healthcare sector, but there will be an emphasis on primary care. Young researchers are specially invited.