Center for Quality and Patient Safety

Health Services Research

Health Services and Quality of Care Research Fellowship

The Center for Quality and Patient Safety helps to fund a 2-year postdoctoral Health Services and Quality of Care Research Fellowship. With close mentorship, fellows learn state-of-the art health services and quality improvement research methodologies. For more information, see Health Services and Quality of Care Research Fellowship.

Quality Improvement (QI) Scholars

The Quality Improvement (QI) Scholars Program is a year-long training program designed to support junior and mid-level faculty pursuing QI as a scholarly focus. This competitive program provides the skills and support needed to successfully complete and publish rigorous QI research projects.

QI Scholars:

  • Combines a mentored QI research experience with a formal curriculum in QI research methodology
  • Gives scholars statistical and data analytic support for their projects
  • Provides access to an engaged network of QI Scholars alumni

Successful applicants to this program are expected to submit a first-authored manuscript based on their QI Scholars project to a peer-reviewed journal by the end of program participation.

Graduates of the program will have the tools needed to become leaders with an advanced QI skillset, capable of mentoring others in the future.

To learn more, contact [email protected].

Patient Reported Outcomes (PRO) Program

To facilitate assessment of our clinical effectiveness, the Patient Reported Outcomes (PRO) program measures the outcomes of care provided to children admitted to the Medical, Surgical, Rehabilitation and Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine units at Seattle Children's. We do this by measuring health-related quality of life (QOL). 

We are a facet of Seattle Children's Center for Quality and Patient Safety. Our data-banking study is approved by the institutional review board (IRB). Our data consist of baseline, admission and follow-up QOL scores.

To measure patients’ health-related QOL, we administer the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory (PedsQL) or the Functional Status 2-Revised (FS2R) survey to caregivers and patients who consent or assent to participate. We survey patient families who speak Chinese, English, Russian, Spanish or Vietnamese languages.

Parents and patients are asked to assess function during the month before hospitalization, during admission and then 2 to 6 weeks after discharge.

The PedsQL measures a child's physical, emotional, social and school/cognitive functioning. See the PedsQL Measurement Model for the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory for more information.

For children who are atypically developing or who are moderately or severely disabled, we use the Functional Status II-Revised (FSIIR). It focuses less on physical functioning than the PedsQL survey. For a description of this tool, see "Functional Status II(R): A Measure of Child Health Status.”   

Our team is composed of 2 clinical research coordinators and a research manager, overseen by the study’s primary investigator, Dr. Arti Desai.