Systems, Leadership, Integration, and Management (SLIM)

VP&S Graduates as Leading Agents of Health-System Transformation

Overview: In June 2012, IBM delivered funding to Columbia University Medical Center to develop a unique new course designed to provide Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons (VP&S) graduates with the ability to become agents of health-system transformation through exposure to performance-improvement theory and practice and insights into U.S. health-system function and health-policy creation. Informed by input of a VP&S student focus group and by prior experience teaching component topics, course directors for each element of curriculum related to Systems, Leadership, Integration, and Management (SLIM) training have convened and developed a proposed approach to delivering SLIM preparation to VP&S students across their four years of education, as follows:

Mission Statement: VP&S graduates will possess the background knowledge and essential problem-solving skills to lead health care into the future and will personally embrace the responsibility to do so.

VP&S graduates becoming transformation agents: Students will accomplish the below course objectives:

• What is the system? Students will know various approaches to U.S. health-care delivery at macro and micro levels, as well as approaches of other countries distinguished by favorable health-care performance and cost.
• Why this system? Students will know the process of U.S. health-policy formation that shapes health-care delivery in the trenches.
• How will physicians, working collaboratively in multidisciplinary teams, lead transformation in the health-care delivery system? Students will grasp principles of performance improvement and organizational psychology that catalyze effective, efficient, and sustainable change and will get classroom-based hands-on experience in performance-improvement techniques.

The Learning Process:

Objective 1: Three two-hour sessions. Speakers followed by small-group sessions. Speakers will include individuals from CMS, health-system leadership, and major stakeholder industries. (Bridging early FCM1 and into FCM2) (Course Director: Dr. Taylor)

Objective 2: Seven two-hour sessions. Again, speakers followed by small-group sessions. Speakers will include individuals actively involved in health-policy development. (During FCM2) (CD: Dr. Taylor)

Objective 3: Students will be taught principles of performance improvement and organizational psychology, with classroom exercises to embed core concepts. Further, they will make environmental observations of systems challenges and will define the problem in one instance of an environmental issue and propound a solution. (Four two-hour sessions in early FCM3; one M&P intersession half day; and seven two-hour sessions in Ready 4 Residency) (CD: Dr. Sideli)

Objective 4 (Electives): For those students wanting advanced training in performance improvement, electives and a scholarly project array of choices will be offered. (CDs: Dr. Sideli, Dr. Weil)

Assessment: Under auspices of CERE, pre- and post-course SLIM knowledge, skills, and attitudes will be assessed and benchmarked against the RIME developmental paradigm.