I’ve always been fascinated with hospital QI work. And I’ve been looking for a guest who can describe in detail how to pursue such a career.
I heard today’s guest discuss his journey at a conference last year, and I thought he’d be able to explain the how and why of such a career to us. So, I'm very pleased to present my recent conversation with David Lucier.
David is Director of Quality and Safety for Hospital Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital. He’s also Associate Medical Director for Specialty Programs and Clinical Collaboration at Partners Healthcare in Boston.
He received his MD and MBA from Tufts University School of Medicine, and a Master's in Public Health from the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health. He completed his internal medicine residency at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, and then completed the Harvard Medical School Fellowship in Patient Safety and Quality, sponsored by CRICO, the Harvard malpractice insurer. He continues to practice medicine as an academic Hospitalist at MGH.
He is truly an expert in applying QI processes in the hospital environment.
In this interview, David explains why he likes QI work so much. He also sorts through the educational options for pursuing such a career if you’ve already been in practice for a while.
David gave us a lot to think about. If you’re interested in pursuing this kind of career, he suggests two major steps to take:
Volunteer to help out on quality and safety projects at your hospital; Decide which learning opportunities make sense for you, including individual courses, certifications, a fellowship or an advanced degree.You can find links to the resources David mentioned in today’s interview, and a transcript of the interview, by going to the show notes at vitalpe.net/episode083.
Next week I’ll have a wide-ranging interview with a successful online marketing expert, course creator and professional speaker who still practices anesthesia part time. And I'll provide a qucik review of the first Physicians Helping Physicians Networking Conference.
