Fellows partner with Department of Medicine leaders working at the front line of hospital and ambulatory care to design, test, and scale interventions that improve patient safety, throughput and experience. Mentors hold operational leadership roles at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and across WashU Medicine primary care.
Where fellows work
Projects may include patient safety, inpatient throughput, transitions of care, ambulatory panel management, medication safety, patient experience or curricular design for QI teaching. Fellows partner with mentors holding operational leadership roles across the Section of Hospital Medicine’s QI and Patient Safety (QIPS) Committee, the Department of Medicine’s Office of the Vice Chair for Patient Safety and Quality Improvement, and the Primary Care Internal Medicine clinics and residency.
Fellows aiming to build generalizable implementation science from inpatient operations can also train in the Implementation Science track, combining COQ operational mentorship with IS methods and CDI resources.
Recent project examples
Representative WashU Hospital Medicine work that fellows partner on with COQ mentors.
Closing the loop on incidental imaging findings
Diagnostic Safety, Transitions
An EHR-based notification system to communicate incidental imaging findings on inpatient discharge summaries. Across 1,383 encounters, incidentals were documented in 51% of discharge summaries at baseline; direct coordinator outreach lifted patient and provider awareness to 79%. Published in Journal of Patient Safety (2024).
Mentor: Ciesielski
Warm handoffs to extended-care providers
Transitions of Care, Safety
QI initiative implementing structured warm handoffs between WashU Medicine inpatient hospitalists and Barnes-Jewish extended-care providers to strengthen transitions and reduce communication-related safety events. Presented at the BJH Annual Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Symposium.
Mentor: Farrag
Affiliated faculty
Meet the multidisciplinary team of affiliated faculty conducting clinical operations and quality research.
Ready to apply?
Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis. Reach out to fellowship director Kevin Stephenson, MD (k.stephenson@wustl.edu) before you apply. Most successful applicants have a mentor identified in advance.