Surveillance Webinar: Tools You Can Use-Surveillance Webinar: Tools You Can Use Recording

Video Transcription

Video Summary

This webinar, the final session in the ACPM preventive medicine curriculum cycle, focused on project management and quality improvement tools for preventive medicine physicians and residents. Dr. Miriam Alexander emphasized that many healthcare projects fail because teams are disciplined about clinical content but not about the process of managing the work.<br /><br />She reviewed major management areas: strategy, people/organization, operations, process improvement, and project management. In strategy, she discussed vision, mission, objectives, and tools such as SWOT analysis and balanced scorecards. For people management, she highlighted the importance of stakeholders and argued that organizations often treat employees like widgets rather than adapting work to people’s strengths.<br /><br />A large portion of the talk covered problem solving and root cause analysis. Dr. Alexander stressed the importance of defining the problem precisely and measurably before launching a project. She illustrated how focusing on the wrong problem—such as hepatitis B infection instead of hepatitis B immunization rates—can lead teams down the wrong path. She reviewed tools like the “5 Whys” and fishbone diagrams, noting that root cause analyses should look upstream rather than blaming the end user.<br /><br />She then moved to process improvement and project management tools, including DMACC, PDSA/PDCA cycles, Six Sigma, Gantt charts, RACI matrices, PERT, critical path analysis, and project charters. She explained that Gantt charts and RACI matrices are especially useful when updated continuously and paired with clear accountability.<br /><br />In discussion, she said her favorite tools are a strong project manager, a Gantt chart, a RACI matrix, and a fishbone diagram. The session ended with audience questions and a reminder to complete the survey and access the recording.

Keywords

project management

quality improvement

preventive medicine

root cause analysis

PDSA cycle

Gantt chart

RACI matrix

fishbone diagram

SWOT analysis

Six Sigma