Blueprint ebook Part 1 - cphq PDF

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Your Blueprint to CPHQ Success Create a fail-safe plan, prep effectively, and craft the right mindset to get certified now!

PART I

Table of Contents

Introduction The CPHQ exam

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Introduct Introduction ion

So you have been in the healthcare industry for some time now and want to take your career to the next level?

Or you are a new healthcare professional and looking to expand your horizons beyond the ordinary? That is probably why you stumbled upon the CPHQ. I get asked by a lot of folks how to step up their healthcare career.

One of the most effective ways I can suggest is the CPHQ path.

The CPHQ (Certified Professional in Healthcare Quality) is a credible and recognized credential to add to your professional repertoire. Whether you are a physician, nurse, therapist, lab

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professional or a healthcare manager, the CPHQ can help position you for a lucrative career ahead.

So why all this fuss about healthcare quality?

As a friend of mine put it, healthcare quality is like nanotechnology. It’s a discipline still in its infancy, rapidly growing the world over, and very few people who truly understand it, let alone know how to apply it, or can claim to be experts in it.

So, if you take the leap right now, you will be amongst the few early adopters of an industry niche that is poised to see significant disruption, innovation and development in the next several years.

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And what better way to enter into the fray than to get a widely recognized certification from a renowned body (the NAHQ) that proves your know-how of healthcare quality?

Did you know that there are fewer than 10,000 CPHQs worldwide? Now think about the vastness of the world healthcare industry, and the precious rarity of these certified quality professionals.

Take a look at the aspirations below and evaluate if the CPHQ can help fulfill them?

฀ Get promoted to higher positions in healthcare. Check. ฀ Get a salary raise. Check. ฀ Transition successfully from clinical/ technical career to leadership/ managerial. Check. ฀ Become

a

credible

authority

in

healthcare

quality

management. Check. 5 ©CPHQMastery.com|2019

Needless to say, the CPHQ could be a game-changer for your career in healthcare. So why don’t more folks get certified? What’s stopping them? When it comes to CPHQ, my guess is you are in one of the following phases: ฀ you don’t know about it/ didn’t think it important, ฀ you want to but don’t know where to start, ฀ you have started but feel overwhelmed, ฀ you have been preparing but feel you are getting nowhere, and procrastinate ฀ you tried once and failed, ฀ you failed more than once and have almost given up on the dream.

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If any of the above phases rings a bell, you are not alone. In fact I have met, interacted with and trained people in each of these phases. And many of them have gone on to get their certificate and the lapel pin that comes with it!

My background I

am

a

physician

with

a

background

in

healthcare

management. For the last 10 years, I have been immersed in the healthcare quality field, first in the US and then in the Gulf region.

But healthcare quality happened to me almost by accident. As a graduate student researcher at the University of Pittsburgh, I 7 ©CPHQMastery.com|2019

had the opportunity to contribute to a major community-wide quality initiative in the city of Pittsburgh that involved several hospitals and healthcare stakeholders. Through my work I realized how much real impact my work could create in the lives of people than if I were practicing medicine alone. Thus began my continuing journey in healthcare quality. During this journey, I made sure I learnt as much about the field as

I

could,

from

books,

experts

and

on-the-ground

implementation. That helped, because I could then carry that enrichment when I took up a new responsibility half way across the world in Qatar.

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Over the last several years, I have had the privilege of working with the best of the best in the healthcare improvement industry, including the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (got an improvement fellowship from IHI – had the honor of receiving mentorship from several stalwarts of IHI), the Dartmouth Institute (got credentialed as an Improvement coach), and ISQUA. I get to share the science of improvement at several big events like the ISQUA conference, IHI forums and learning sessions.

(co-leading a workshop, with Robert Lloyd, VP- IHI)

This is when I heard about the CPHQ. 9 ©CPHQMastery.com|2019

As an ambitious professional, getting the CPHQ was a nobrainer for me. I knew how it would re-inforce my real-world expertise and position me well. I set a goal to get certified. Within 90 days of starting my preparation. To achieve that goal, I knew the importance of being intentional about how I plan and prepare. Just as in everything I do, I created a written plan with my goal in mind, and made sure I followed it with frequent tracking and adjustments. And at the end of the 90 days, I had the CPHQ! Over the next several months, I was contacted by several folks in the region who wanted to get certified, but didn’t know how. They wanted me to teach them CPHQ content (given my experience in healthcare quality) as well as a fool-proof study plan that would guarantee success at their next attempt. I did. And they succeeded. Looking back, I can say for sure that passing the exam takes more than head-knowledge.

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It requires ฀ the right mindset ฀ an effective plan ฀ good preparation ฀ exam-smarts

That’s when I started offering my system and training online so that more CPHQ aspirants could benefit and free themselves from the self-defeating spiral of trying and failing. That’s how the CPHQMastery courses were born. So what’s the system for CPHQ success? Here it is:

Mindset

Plan

Prep

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Just by nature of the study material, content of healthcare quality, and the exam itself, all three components are essential to your success: ฀ the mindset with which you approach your prep and test ฀ the robustness of your study & prep plan ฀ Final but most critical piece - your actual prep, which includes reading/ studying, solving practice questions, and most important – honing your critical thinking ability. (Believe it or not, most CPHQ prep materials and courses out there just ignore this last factor. No wonder so many aspirants wander around defeated!)

We will look at each of these components individually. But first let’s get a full understanding of the CPHQ, the examination & certification process, and what the trends look like. Plus I will give you a breakdown of the exam content from the standpoint of your effective preparation.

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The CPHQ Ex Exam am

According to the NAHQ website, CPHQ integrates the entire body of knowledge in the healthcare quality profession. This includes ฀ strategic and operational roles in management and leadership ฀ information management, including design and data collection,

measurement

and

analytics,

and

communication ฀ performance/quality measurement and improvement, including planning, implementation and evaluation, and training ฀ strategic and operational tasks in patient safety CPHQ is THE MOST RECOGNIZED (and the only accredited) certification in the profession of healthcare quality. 13 ©CPHQMastery.com|2019

So who can apply for the exam? The exam can be taken by both US and international candidates. If you are a US candidate: The exam fee is $529, but if you are a member of the NAHQ (National Association for Healthcare Quality….the organization that offers the CPHQ), you get a $106 discount, so you pay $423 as exam fee. (Joining the NAHQ is beneficial in providing you resources and materials that may help in your exam preparation and ongoing healthcare quality practice. Though the NAHQ lists a host of materials for CPHQ prep, in my experience, you just need a minimal effective set of materials to help you sail thru.) The exam can be taken at more than 130 test centers throughout the US, any time of the year. 14 ©CPHQMastery.com|2019

For more information on how to apply and take the test, check out this link: When you are there, make sure to browse thru the US Candidate Handbook for some more information. (Don’t spend too much time reading it in detail….you don’t need it)

If you are an international candidate: You have to schedule your exam during one of the four exam-windows that NAHQ offers in one year. The exam can be taken at any of the international testing centers which are available in most countries that have a modern healthcare system. Application fees will be $579, but if you are a NAHQ member, you pay only $473. It goes without saying then, that if you are a non-US candidate, you will need to be more thorough with your planning for prep and exam-taking. Once you plan for a

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particular window, you will have to go ahead or else you will have to wait to apply for the next one. For more information on how to apply and take the test for international candidates, check out this link: When you are there, make sure to browse thru the International

Candidate

Handbook

for

some

more

information. (Don’t spend too much time reading it in detail)

The NAHQ website also gives a nice FAQ document that will answer your most basic queries about the logistics and mechanics of the exam and reaccreditation. Check it out here. One thing I like about the NAHQ is that they publish the content outline for the CPHQ from time to time. This is a good resource for you to really understand which topics you really need to assimilate and in what order of priority.

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The most recent content outline was published in 2018. Download it here. Make sure to read it well once and keep it with you as a reference. Later on, I will give you my analysis of the content outline, so you know how to strategically use that information in your prep.

Before that, let’s take a look at some interesting stats about the CPHQ exam. (Source: cphq.org)

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As of 2017, there’s only around 10k CPHQs all over the world. That means the world healthcare industry (that employs and services hundreds of millions) is crying for more accredited healthcare professionals.

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Roughly 2000 candidates appear for the exam each year, and less than 70% of them actually pass and get certified. Translation – approx. 1000-1500 new CPHQs are added every year to the pool.

Of these, the US candidates fare better on the test, with a pass rate of 71% (2017) compared to the international pass rate of 60%. International candidates apparently have it a bit more rough, with less than half of the candidates clearing the exam!

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It is this discrepancy I want to solve. I want to see more and more accredited healthcare professionals all over the world, striving to improve quality of care for patients. It is disappointing to see so many aspirants not making it. Not because they don’t have what it takes. But because they don’t have the proper guidance and materials.

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In the next section, I am going to show you a workable system to follow to maximize your chances of success.

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