Abstract
Higher education is experiencing a period of significant change and the quality of student learning experience has never been more important (or come under more scrutiny). This is one of the major drivers behind the move towards viewing students as partners in their learning experience. This is further supported by an awareness that engaging students in ‘purposive activities’ beyond the classroom has been shown to have a positive impact on student achievement and satisfaction. Another significant influence on healthcare curricula is the patient safety agenda: it is increasingly expected that, as part of their undergraduate training, students will be exposed to Quality Improvement (QI) methodology. This paper discusses the application of QI models to educational enhancement: supporting students in recognising areas of their curricula that would benefit from such activity and giving them the opportunity to change them effectively unites and addresses both the patient safety and student engagement agendas.
