| Sumario: | The VA Geriatric Scholars Program is a continuing professional development (CPD) program for interprofessional primary care clinicians to enhance skills in the care of older adults. Following intensive didactic education, participants select and initiate local quality improvement (QI) projects. This evaluation examines the types and range of variation among learner-selected QI. Using a qualitative thematic analysis with a constant comparison approach, we characterized variation among 813 QI project reports from a variety of clinical care settings, resulting in a multi-level schema of 3 themes, 13 subthemes, and 79 foci. Using this typology, we then compared a subsample of projects in general primary care (n = 401) and home based primary care (n = 330). Overall, 72.8% of these QI directly impacted clinical care in identifying and managing health conditions by clinicians or through patient education. The remaining projects addressed organizational barriers to clinic efficiencies. These practical, successful QI strategies might be diffused more broadly, perhaps through implementation science research, policy proposals, or as exemplars for other clinical training programs or locally initiated projects, such as Age Friendly Action Communities. KEY POINTS: Little attention has been given to the types of QI projects independently initiated by health care professionals when they have the option to select a topic through a program of continuing professional development (CPD). CPD directed at interdisciplinary general primary care is an opportunity to improve care for older patients at their most common site of health care. Evaluation of local QI projects identifies impacts of CPD at the patient level and may serve as a means to assess educational needs of the workforce. QI projects that are initiated for CPD are important means of evaluating current organizational barriers to quality health care. Why Does This Article Matter This study 1) adds to the literature supporting the integration of continuing professional development, education, and quality improvement to enhance behavior change and improve health care quality for older adults, and 2) contributes a method and typology to the literature for evaluation of clinician-initiated quality improvements.
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