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The purpose was to measure faculty members': (1) knowledge of quality improvement and patient safety (QIPS), (2) attitudes and beliefs about their own QI skills, and (3) self-efficacy toward participating in, leading, and teaching QIPS. Faculty completed an online survey. Questions assessed demographic and academic characteristics, knowledge, attitudes/beliefs, and self-efficacy. Knowledge was measured using the Quality Improvement Knowledge Assessment Tool-Revised (QIKAT-R). Participants provided free-text responses to questions about clinical scenarios. Almost half of participants (n = 236) self-reported that they were moderately or extremely comfortable with QIPS skills. Few were very (20%) or most (15%) comfortable teaching QIPS. Ninety-one participants attempted the QIKAT-R, and 78 participants completed it. The mean score was 16.6 (SD = 5.6). Despite positive attitudes and beliefs about their own QIPS skills, study results demonstrate a general lack of knowledge among surveyed faculty members. Faculty development efforts are needed to improve proficiency in participating, leading, and teaching QIPS projects.

Background With increasing rates of obesity and its link with cardiovascular disease, there is a need for better understanding of the obesity‐outcome relationship. This study explores the association between categories of obesity with treatment times and mortality for patients experiencing ST‐segment elevation myocardial infarction. Methods and Results We examined 8725 patients with ST‐segment elevation myocardial infarction who underwent primary percutaneous coronary intervention and used regression models to analyze the relationship between 6 categories of body mass index with key door‐to‐balloon time, total ischemic time, and in‐hospital mortality. We relied on data from the Mission: Lifeline North Texas program, consisting of 33 percutaneous coronary intervention–capable hospitals in 6 counties surrounding Dallas, Texas. Data were extracted from the National Cardiovascular Data Registry for each participating hospital. Of the samples, 76% were overweight or obese. Comparing the univariate differences between the normal‐weight group and the pooled sample, we observed a U‐shaped association between body mass index and both mortality and door‐to‐balloon times. The most underweight and severely obese had the highest mortality and median door‐to‐balloon time, respectively. These differences persisted after multivariate adjustments for door‐to‐balloon time, but not for mortality. Conclusions Extremely obese patients have longer treatment time delays than other body mass index categories. However, this did not extend to significant differences in mortality in the multivariate models. We conclude that clinicians should incorporate body mass assessments into their diagnosis and treatment plans to mitigate observed disparities.