IHI 2020 Africa Forum

For more information and to register for this event go to:
http://www.ihi.org/education/Conferences/AfricaForum/Pages/default.aspx

One of the great learning experiences in healthcare on the African continent is what has now become a biennial event: the IHI Africa Forum on Quality and Safety in Healthcare.

To provide learners with the opportunity to continually grow their knowledge and skills and provide access to those just beginning their quality and safety journey, the IHI Africa Forum on Quality and Safety in Healthcare will return in 2020, scheduled for May 4-6, in Johannesburg.

Cohsasa is involved in this event through its CEO, Ms Jacqui Stewart, who is a member of the IHI Africa Forum Steering Committee which develops the programme.

Ms Stewart was invited to design and chair a 90-minute session on quality improvement, external evaluation and accreditation. The session comprises three case studies of facilities that have been through the COHSASA programme. The speakers are:

• Dr Kunal Bose, former Medical Superintendent of Mahalapye District Hospital, who supervised the quality improvement and accreditation programme at the hospital and two clinics in the district to become three of the first public health facilities in Botswana to achieve accreditation against internationally accredited standards.
  
• Ms Diane van Dyk, the CEO of the South Coast Hospice based in Port Shepstone, KZN. She has guided the hospice to five successive full accreditation awards, the last two of which were four-year awards (and signalling that QI has become institutionalised in a facility).
  
• The Clinix Group entered their first two hospitals into the programme in 2018 and have recently undergone the external survey. Dr Charlotte Mlangheni is leading the quality improvement and accreditation programme.

The inaugural IHI Africa Forum in South Africa (held in Durban in 2018) brought together a remarkable cross-section of learners and leaders to advance quality improvement and safety – leveraging innovative tools and resources, and the inspiration that comes from sharing and collaborating – to energise their work.

The way attendees embraced this innovative educational programme was encouraging and deeply humbling, and underscored IHI’s strong commitment to bring quality improvement and safety education to colleagues in Africa.

The Africa Forum 2020 will attract attendees from across the continent, passionate individuals seeking the latest ideas and practical applications in quality improvement and safety. The conference will provide a collegial environment with learning and sharing at the heart of all activities.

With four highly-relevant, targeted Educational Tracks (each including multiple sessions designed to teach and engage learners at various knowledge levels and interest areas), related workshops, inspirational keynotes from visionaries in the field, and a new Learning and Networking Centre as the hub for knowledge sharing and making connections, attendees will benefit from exposure to cutting-edge ideas and solutions and the best and the brightest of their peers.

Ministry of Health representatives, physicians, nurses, other clinicians, quality and safety managers, pharmacists, researchers, frontline patient givers, patient advocates, community leaders and interns and students will be in attendance.

All presentations and other materials will be made available to attendees for download prior to arrival at the conference, as well as during and after the event, and select learnings will also subsequently be released through appropriate communications vehicles, including the IHI website.

EDUCATIONAL TRACKS

Governing quality

This systems-level approach to learning aims to strengthen the competencies of those responsible for managing and inspiring quality improvement (QI). Lessons in this track will focus on how to apply the QI methodology to one’s care setting, private organisation, public system, or country. Sessions will cover topics such as...

• national quality strategies
  
• igniting demand for QI; information sharing and campaigns
  
• value management
  
• improving capacity for management
  
• regulation and accountability
  
• using data to make population health decisions and meet population health goals
  
• empowering local organizations to act
  
• scale up of improvement efforts

Healthcare delivery redesign

The 2018 Lancet Global Health Commission Report has inspired healthcare professionals to rethink how they deliver care, stepping out from the old models of care. This track is intended to challenge attendees to do the same as they look to maximize health outcomes and user confidence. Sessions will cover topics such as...

• community design of care
  
• team-based care
  
• engaging patient and families
  
• creating patient-safety driven systems
  
• incorporating new technology, emergency health records, and big data in QI and safety effort

Transforming the healthcare workforce

This track offers breakout sessions that provide proven methods and resources to enable organisations, teams, and individuals to thrive – not just persevere – in the workplace. Sessions will cover topics such as...

• establishing and sustaining physical and psychological safety on the job
  
• finding joy in work
  
• providing clinical education
  
• empowering staff in QI initiatives
  
• creating a culture of speaking up

Improvement in difficult settings

Whether it’s due to inaccessibility, the remote nature of a community, war, poverty, endemic disease, or a lack of funds, healthcare professionals in Africa often face challenges in providing and leading care improvement efforts. Sessions will cover topics such as...

• case studies from the field on what does and doesn’t work
  
• innovative care models
  
• tools for building local provider QI capabilities
  
• case studies on building improvement capability
  
• strategies for meeting population health goals in difficult settings
  
• methods for understanding what is takes to bring about improvement

Illustrative view of 2020 sessions

Conference content will be tailored specifically to the needs of the attendees, with comprehensive strategies and resources for addressing topics such as building improvement skills and capability; engaging leaders, health workers, and others in quality improvement work; new methods of measurement and data analysis; how to advance high-impact leadership; improving maternal and child health; preventing and treating infectious/communicable diseases; strategies for better person-and family-centred care; solutions to ensure patient and staff safety; ideas to increase equity; suggestions for strengthening public health structure and care delivery; and additional high-impact, high-value teachings.

• Improving Quality, Patient Involvement, Metrics, and Outcomes in Emergency Behavioural Health Care: Lessons from South Africa and the USA
  
• Improving Maternal and Child Health: Learnings from Ethiopia, Rwanda, Malawi, and Ghana
  
• Age-Friendly Health Systems for Global Aging
  
• Leading Large-Scale Improvement
  
• Building Essential Quality Improvement Skills
  
• Safety as a Core Priority
  
• Hospital Accreditation
  
• Advancing Respect and Dignity in Childbirth for Black Women Across the Globe
  
• Tackling TB Across South Africa: Learnings from KwaZulu-Natal, Western Cape, and Eastern Cape
  
• Making the Business Case for Quality Improvement
  
• The Psychology of Change: People-Driven Methods to Unlock Resistance and Unleash Quality Improvement
  
• Measurement for Improvement
  
• Human Factors and Safety
  
• Technology and Healthcare
  
• Community Health
  
• Epidemic Response, Control, and Prevention
  
• Building, Implementing, and Sustaining a National Quality Strategy Framework: Lessons from the Ghanaian, Ethiopian, Ugandan, and Malawian Experiences
  
• Coaching Quality Improvement
  
• Swimming Against the Cultural Tide: Improving Person-Centred Care
  
• Human Resources for Health
  
• Building a Sustainable Infrastructure for Education, Quality Improvement, and Collaborative Care
  
• Quality Improvement in Difficult Settings: Learnings from Liberia, Malawi, South Africa, and Ethiopia
  
• Proposal Writing for Sustainable Organisations
  
• Reaching 95-95-95 Targets for HIV
  
• Turning Burnout into Engagement
  
• Medication Safety
  
• Governance and Management of Resilient Organisations

IHI anticipates that attendees will integrate the learnings, inspiration, and professional connections accessed at the Africa Forum into their work going forward, glean new knowledge and unique perspectives that will help them encourage and grow their colleagues and organisations, and bring these skills to bear in care delivery to the patient populations they are committed to serve. Continuing Professional Development credits will be offered to attendees, supporting their formal educational growth.