Alik Sarian, MS | Master of Science in Healthcare Quality and Safety
Alik Sarian, MS, is the magnet program director, nursing quality and safety director, and nursing education director at Almoosa Specialist Hospital.
After six years as a pediatric oncology nurse at the American University of Beirut Medical Center and Children’s Cancer Center in Lebanon, Alik Sarian relocated to Saudi Arabia as the magnet program director at Almoosa Specialist Hospital. As she began working more on quality and safety, Sarian decided to participate in Harvard Medical School’s Safety, Quality, Informatics, and Leadership program.
While pursuing the certificate, she realized her passion for quality and safety and subsequently became the director of nursing quality and safety. Looking to expand her knowledge after receiving her certificate, she reached out to Program Director Katherine Santos and learned about HMS’s Master of Science in Healthcare Quality and Safety. She applied and enrolled as a full-time student while continuing to work at the hospital.
Realizing a Childhood Dream by Accessing Harvard’s Virtual Classroom
Although Sarian was a bit nervous about the new virtual format, she thoroughly enjoyed the program due to the ease of navigating the virtual platform and interacting with the faculty and other students. “The comprehensive curriculum was demanding but achievable,” she says. “If anything, I felt more engaged in the virtual classroom than I had during in-person courses.”
Through the Master of Science in Healthcare Quality and Safety program, Sarian learned practical skills that she was able to apply immediately to a key challenge at the hospital. She and her colleagues would often fix problems that would reappear, or they would run into compliance concerns several months later.
“I was able to institute permanent changes, including how to listen and understand the problem, include the right stakeholders, think more holistically around the design, and implement slowly and then scale up,” she explains.
Moving Beyond Her Comfort Zone
Through her capstone project, Heart Failure Education and Early Recognition Optimization (HEERO), Sarian was able to help reduce the readmission rates of heart failure patients in her hospital’s cardiology unit. To address this challenge, she moved outside her comfort zone as a pediatric oncology nurse and pursued a topic in cardiology.
“Cardiology was a new field for me, and I was excited to dive in to help fix this problem,” she says. “The project goal was to decrease the 30-day admission rate among heart failure patients.”
Sarian and her team found a way to involve the patients by getting them to measure and monitor their side effects at home and record them in a diary. This way, they could be treated for any side effects immediately without being readmitted. She and her team created a mobile app for ease of use and quicker response time.
Sustaining Her Capstone Solution Across Time
When Sarian first started this project, the hospital readmission rates for patients with heart failure were at 44%. By the time she presented her project, the rates had dropped to 17%, and three months after graduation, they were at zero. While the numbers fluctuate occasionally, the rates are consistently lower than 10%.
Sarian initially launched these changes within cardiology, but as updates were made, the team saw success over time. This success contributed to Sarian earning the first-place prize at graduation.
Growing up in Beirut, Harvard seemed so out of reach that she never dared to dream about attending. “Through the accessibility of the virtual program, attending Harvard Medical School was possible for me,” she says. “Education is the best way to invest in personal development. I worked hard and am proud of my accomplishments—and of being a part of this growing community.”