GW Nursing Magazine Fall 2016

GW Nursing News
FIRST GW SON
MOOC IS LED
BY HEALTH CARE
QUALITY TEAM
Jean Johnson and Greg Pawlson, experts
who have spent decades working on health
care quality improvement, are the first
SON faculty to teach a GW massive online
open course (MOOC). Launched in May
and offered through Coursera, “Leading
Healthcare Quality and Safety” is aimed
at all members of health care teams. The
course is continuously open for “just-intime”
learning and, depending on needs
and schedules, participants can complete
its requirements in three or more weeks.
“MOOCs are powerful tools that allow
someone’s expertise to reach much further
than in a traditional classroom,” said Dean
Pamela Jeffries, who developed numerous
MOOCs prior to coming to GW. “Offering
the experience through the team approach
of Dr. Johnson, a nurse, and Dr. Pawlson, a
physician, brings multiple perspectives and
effectively reflects how patients are now
treated by teams.”
Dr. Johnson has long emphasized
quality in health care education. As the
founding SON dean, she initiated the first
graduate-level degree in health care quality.
“Health care is complicated; the system is
complex. Our population is aging and often
experiencing multiple health challenges
and complex treatment regimens. It’s no
wonder that medical error is such a critical
problem,” she said. “We know we can do
better with heightened attention to better
systems of care and getting all health care
workers focused on safety and quality.”
Her team colleague, Dr. Pawlson, was
executive vice president of the National
Committee for Quality Assurance for
11 years and chair of the Department of
Health Care Sciences in the GW School
of Medicine and Health Sciences (SMHS)
for 10 years. He is now a senior medical
consultant for Saxton Stump and SE
Healthcare Quality Consulting with a focus
on patient safety and quality improvement,
and continues to serve as an SMHS clinical
professor and an SON adjunct professor.
Guest faculty joining the MOOC
team include Margaret (Peggy) O’Kane,
the founding and current president of
the National Committee for Quality
Assurance; Jesse Pines, the director of the
Office for Clinical Practice Innovation, a
professor of emergency medicine in GW
SMHS and a professor of health policy
and management at GW Milken Institute
School of Public Health; and Esther Emard,
who has more than 30 years of health care
executive leadership.
For more information about “Leading
Healthcare Quality and Safety”
and other GW MOOCs, visit
https://online.gwu.edu/moocs
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