A Multisite Study of a Quality Improvement Teaching Strategy to Build Competency

Background: Quality improvement (QI) is an essential part of nursing education. Although there are robust examples of teaching strategies for QI, there is a distinct lack of research on effective strategies for teaching QI in nursing education. Method: This multisite study included students from six nursing programs. A treatment fidelity plan was developed and followed to ensure consistency for implementation of the study and data collection. A quasiexperimental, nonpaired, pre-and posttest study design was used to examine changes in student perspectives of QI after participating in a QI teaching strategy. Pre-and posttest questions were mapped to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing's Essentials subcompetency statements for QI. Results: A total of 254 pre-and 116 posttest responses were included for analysis. Significance (p = .05) was found at the beginning level within three questions. Conclusion: Findings from this study indicate beginning-level students can benefit from a competency-based QI learning activity.