Curriculum standards
Entrustable Professional Activities
LG4: Quality improvement
Quality improvement
Identify and address failures in health care delivery
This activity requires the ability to:
- identify, mitigate, and report actual and potential (‘near miss’) errors
- conduct system improvement activities
- adhere to best practice guidelines
- audit clinical guidelines and outcomes
- contribute to the development of policies and protocols designed to protect patients and enhance health care
- monitor one’s own practice and develop individual improvement plans
Professional practice framework domain
Medical expertise
Ready to perform without supervision
Expected behaviours of a trainee who can routinely perform this activity without needing supervision
The trainee will:
- regularly review patients and outcomes
- evaluate practice to ensure it aligns with available evidence and guidelines
- evaluate population, environmental, and lifestyle health risks, and advocate for healthy lifestyle choices
- use standardised protocols to adhere to best practice and prevent the occurrence of wrong site / wrong patient procedures using mandatory informed consent
- evaluate practice regularly to ensure it aligns with available evidence and guidelines
Requires some supervision
Possible behaviours of a trainee who needs some supervision to perform this activity
The trainee may:
- contribute to processes on identified opportunities for improvement
- recognise the importance of prevention and early detection in clinical practice
- use local guidelines to assist patient care decision making
Communication
Ready to perform without supervision
Expected behaviours of a trainee who can routinely perform this activity without needing supervision
The trainee will:
- use and support patients’ access to high-quality, easy-to-understand information about health care
- assist patients in participating in the decision-making process regarding their health care, according to their preferences and availability of care
- help patients comprehend the organisation’s open disclosure policy
- discuss with patients any safety and quality concerns they have relating to their care
- implement the organisation’s open disclosure policy
Requires some supervision
Possible behaviours of a trainee who needs some supervision to perform this activity
The trainee may:
- explain how health literacy may affect the way patients or populations gain access to, understand, and use health information
Quality and safety
Ready to perform without supervision
Expected behaviours of a trainee who can routinely perform this activity without needing supervision
The trainee will:
- demonstrate best practice, including infection control, radiation safety, adverse event reporting, and effective clinical handover
- facilitate organisational quality and safety activities, including peer review, morbidity and mortality meetings and clinical incident reviews, and apply decisions to practice
- use clinical audits and registries of patients’ experiences and outcomes, and learn from incidents and complaints, to improve patients’ experiences and outcomes and mitigate against potential adverse outcomes
Requires some supervision
Possible behaviours of a trainee who needs some supervision to perform this activity
The trainee may:
- demonstrate an understanding of a system approach to improving the quality and safety of health care
Teaching and learning
Ready to perform without supervision
Expected behaviours of a trainee who can routinely perform this activity without needing supervision
The trainee will:
- participate in professional training in quality and safety to ensure a contemporary approach to safety system strategies
- supervise and manage junior colleagues’ performance in the delivery of safe, high-quality care
- ensure continuing professional development as per RACP or RANZCR training requirements
Research
Ready to perform without supervision
Expected behaviours of a trainee who can routinely perform this activity without needing supervision
The trainee will:
- ensure protocols for human research are approved by a human research ethics committee, in accordance with the national statement on ethical conduct in human research
Requires some supervision
Possible behaviours of a trainee who needs some supervision to perform this activity
The trainee may:
- recognise patient participation in research is voluntary and based on an appropriate understanding about the purpose, methods, demands, risks, and potential benefits of the research
Cultural safety
Ready to perform without supervision
Expected behaviours of a trainee who can routinely perform this activity without needing supervision
The trainee will:
- actively participate in professional development opportunities that focus on the influence of cultural bias on health outcomes
Requires some supervision
Possible behaviours of a trainee who needs some supervision to perform this activity
The trainee may:
- communicate effectively with patients with cultural awareness
Ethics and professional behaviour
Ready to perform without supervision
Expected behaviours of a trainee who can routinely perform this activity without needing supervision
The trainee will:
- align improvement goals with the priorities of the organisation
- consistently demonstrate integrity and a patient-centred approach in all work activities
- comply with professional regulatory requirements and codes of conduct
Requires some supervision
Possible behaviours of a trainee who needs some supervision to perform this activity
The trainee may:
- recognise the importance of regulatory requirements and codes of conduct
Judgement and decision making
Ready to perform without supervision
Expected behaviours of a trainee who can routinely perform this activity without needing supervision
The trainee will:
- use decision-making support tools, such as guidelines, protocols, pathways, and reminders, including ALARA principles
- analyse and evaluate current care processes to improve health care
Requires some supervision
Possible behaviours of a trainee who needs some supervision to perform this activity
The trainee may:
- access information and advice from other health care practitioners to identify, evaluate, and improve patients’ care management
Leadership, management, and teamwork
Ready to perform without supervision
Expected behaviours of a trainee who can routinely perform this activity without needing supervision
The trainee will:
- support multidisciplinary team activities to lower patient risk of harm and promote multidisciplinary programs of education
- contribute to developing an organisational culture that enables and prioritises patients’ safety and quality
Requires some supervision
Possible behaviours of a trainee who needs some supervision to perform this activity
The trainee may:
- demonstrate attitudes of respect and cooperation among members of different professional teams
- partner with clinicians and managers to ensure that patients receive appropriate care and information on their care
Health policy, systems, and advocacy
Ready to perform without supervision
Expected behaviours of a trainee who can routinely perform this activity without needing supervision
The trainee will:
- support the development, implementation, evaluation, and monitoring of governance processes
Requires some supervision
Possible behaviours of a trainee who needs some supervision to perform this activity
The trainee may:
- maintain a dialogue with service managers about issues that affect patient care
- contribute to relevant organisational policies and procedures
- help to shape an organisational culture that prioritises safety and quality through openness, honesty, learning, and quality improvement