Background Quality improvement (QI) is a priority for national regulatory bodies in health and care in the UK. However, many health and care staff do not know where to go for support in gaining the required skills and knowledge in QI. This paper reviews Improvement Fundamentals, a massive open online course (MOOC), designed to address this gap, run by an improvement team in the national regulatory body. Methods In 2015, National Health Service (NHS) Improving Quality (subsequently the sustainable improvement team in NHS England) established Improvement Fundamentals: a programme of online, self-directed courses in QI for those involved in heath or social care. The programme ran in two cycles: twice in 2015, followed by a re-launch in 2018 (this programme also ran into 2019). A mixed-methods evaluation was carried out of the 2015 programme involving surveys, interviews and social listening. The 2018–2019 programme was evaluated using post-course surveys of participants and activity data from the platform. Outcomes Since the start of the 2015 programme, 604 improvement projects have been developed, run and submitted for formal assessment, with some demonstrating clear improvements in services. Themes from participant feedback on both programmes have included improved understanding of QI tools and methods; greater energy for QI; a greater sense of community and connectedness in participants’ work and increased confidence in using QI tools and techniques. Discussion Both programmes delivered benefits for participants, and the team’s investment in improvement skills on these programmes has helped to increase capability for future change endeavours. The collaborative nature of the programmes has been key to their successes. Conclusion Improvement Fundamentals demonstrates that MOOCs can be instrumental in driving forward improvements in health and care. The programmes may have utility as a model for future MOOCs, both in QI and other topics, to help drive further improvements in health and care.

中文翻译：

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通过大规模开放在线课程 (MOOC) 推动质量改进

背景 质量改进 (QI) 是英国卫生和护理领域国家监管机构的优先事项。然而，许多健康和护理人员不知道从哪里获得支持以获取 QI 所需的技能和知识。本文回顾了改进基础知识，这是一个大型开放式在线课程 (MOOC)，旨在解决这一差距，由国家监管机构的改进团队运营。方法 2015 年，国家医疗服务体系 (NHS) 提高质量（后来成为英国 NHS 的可持续改进团队）建立了改进基础：为参与健康或社会护理的人员提供在线自我指导的 QI 课程计划。该计划分两个周期运行：2015 年两次，2018 年重新启动（该计划也运行到 2019 年）。对 2015 年的项目进行了混合方法评估，包括调查、访谈和社会倾听。2018-2019 年的计划是使用参与者的课后调查和来自平台的活动数据进行评估的。成果 自 2015 年计划启动以来，已开发、运行并提交了 604 个改进项目以供正式评估，其中一些项目表现出明显的服务改进。参与者对这两个项目的反馈主题包括提高对 QI 工具和方法的理解；为 QI 提供更多能量；参与者工作中的社区感和联系感更强，并增强了使用 QI 工具和技术的信心。讨论 这两个项目都为参与者带来了好处，团队在这些项目的技能改进方面的投资有助于提高未来变革努力的能力。这些计划的协作性质是其成功的关键。结论 改进基础知识表明 MOOC 可以有助于推动健康和护理的改进。这些项目可以作为未来 MOOC 的模型，包括 QI 和其他主题，以帮助推动健康和护理的进一步改进。