Tsimtsiou Zoi, Pagkozidis Ilias, Pappa Anna, Triantafyllou Christos, Vasileiou Constantina, Stridborg Marie, Fonseca Válter R, Breda Joao
Department of Hygiene, Social-Preventive Medicine and Medical Statistics, School of Medicine, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54124 Thessaloniki, Greece.
WHO Athens Quality of Care and Patient Safety Office, World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe, 10675 Athens, Greece.
Healthcare (Basel). 2025 Jun 16;13(12):1445. doi: 10.3390/healthcare13121445.
Despite growing emphasis on quality and safety in healthcare, there remains a limited understanding of how Quality Improvement and Patient Safety (QI/PS) training for health workers has evolved in response to global events like the COVID-19 pandemic and the WHO Global Patient Safety Action Plan. This rapid scoping review aimed to not only identify existing curricula but also uncover trends, innovation gaps, and global inequities in QI/PS education-providing timely insights for reshaping future training strategies.
We searched MEDLINE and Scopus for English-language studies published between January 2020 and April 2024, describing QI and/or PS curricula across graduate, postgraduate, and continuing education levels. All healthcare worker groups were eligible, with no geographic limitations. Two reviewers conducted independent screening and data extraction; a third verified the results.
Among 3290 records, 74 curricula met inclusion criteria, with a majority originating from the US (58, 78.4%) and targeting physicians-especially residents and fellows (43/46, 93.5%). Only 27% of curricula were multidisciplinary. While traditional didactic (66.2%) and interactive (73%) approaches remained prevalent, curricula launched after 2020 introduced novel formats such as Massive Open Online Courses and gamification, with long-term programs uniformly leveraging web-based platforms. Common thematic content included Root Cause Analysis, Plan-Do-Study-Act cycles, QI tools, communication skills, and incident reporting. English-language peer-reviewed published literature indicated a marked lack of structured QI/PS training in Europe, Asia, and Africa.
This review reveals both an uneven development and fragmentation in global QI/PS training efforts, alongside emerging opportunities catalyzed by digital transformation and pandemic-era innovation. The findings highlight a critical gap: while interest in QI/PS is growing, scalable, inclusive, and evidence-based curricula remain largely concentrated in a few high-income countries. By mapping these disparities and innovations, this review provides actionable direction for advancing more equitable and modern QI/PS education worldwide, whilst showcasing the need to systematically delve into QI/PS training in underrepresented regions.
尽管医疗保健领域对质量和安全的重视程度不断提高，但对于卫生工作者的质量改进与患者安全（QI/PS）培训如何因应新冠疫情和世界卫生组织全球患者安全行动计划等全球事件而发展，人们的了解仍然有限。这项快速范围审查旨在不仅识别现有课程，还揭示QI/PS教育中的趋势、创新差距和全球不平等现象，为重塑未来培训策略提供及时的见解。
我们在MEDLINE和Scopus数据库中搜索了2020年1月至2024年4月期间发表的英文研究，这些研究描述了研究生、研究生后和继续教育层面的QI和/或PS课程。所有卫生工作者群体均符合条件，无地域限制。两名评审员进行独立筛选和数据提取；第三名评审员核实结果。
在3290条记录中，74门课程符合纳入标准，其中大多数来自美国（58门，78.4%），目标受众为医生，尤其是住院医师和研究员（43/46，93.5%）。只有27%的课程是多学科的。虽然传统的讲授式（66.2%）和互动式（73%）方法仍然普遍，但2020年后推出的课程引入了大规模开放在线课程和游戏化等新形式，长期课程统一利用基于网络的平台。常见的主题内容包括根本原因分析、计划-执行-研究-改进循环、QI工具、沟通技巧和事件报告。英语同行评审发表的文献表明，欧洲、亚洲和非洲明显缺乏结构化的QI/PS培训。
这项审查揭示了全球QI/PS培训工作的不均衡发展和碎片化，以及数字转型和疫情时代创新带来的新机遇。研究结果凸显了一个关键差距：虽然对QI/PS的兴趣在增加，但可扩展、包容性和基于证据的课程仍主要集中在少数高收入国家。通过梳理这些差异和创新，本审查为在全球推进更公平和现代化的QI/PS教育提供了可操作的方向，同时表明有必要系统地深入研究代表性不足地区的QI/PS培训。
