The ACPE in Tucson AZ, November 2008

I am in Tucson AZ teaching my favorite course for the American College of Physician Executives at the Fall Institute. The course is called the Three Faces of Quality, and I have profiled this previously. This week represents the 15th anniversary since the debut of the course and it has evolved along with the field of quality and safety. I am grateful to the ACPE for giving me the opportunity to meet colleagues from around the country, and each class, numbering nearly 100, presents a different pedagogic challenge. This week we are tackling virtually every topic under the quality and safety umbrella---issues like cultural barriers to improvement, public accountability for outcomes, unexplained variation in the quality of care, and much more. If you are interested to learn more about the ACPE go to www.acpe.org and be sure to check out both the Three Faces and our Advanced Applications course too. How can we do more to get the tenets of quality and safety into the medical curriculum?? How can we create incentives that will influence providers to pay more attention to these issues?? I am interested in your views here. The ACPE is clearly part of the answer to these complex questions!! DAVID NASH