Articles

Leading for Quality in Healthcare: Development and Validation of a Competency Model

Garman, Andrew PsyD, MS, CEO; Scribner, Linda BA, CPHQ

¹National Center for Healthcare Leadership, and professor, health systems management, Rush University; and

²director of quality and clinical outcomes management, Methodist Dallas Medical Center

For more information on the concepts in this article, please contact Dr. Garman at [email protected] or [email protected].

Journal of Healthcare Management 56(6):p 373-384, November 2011.

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Abstract

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Increased attention to healthcare quality and impending changes due to health reform are calling for healthcare leaders at all levels to strengthen their skills in leading quality improvement initiatives. To address this need, the National Association for Healthcare Quality spearheaded the development and validation of a competency model to support healthcare leaders in assessing their strengths and planning appropriate steps for development. Initial development took place over the course of several days of meetings by an advisory panel of quality professionals. The draft model was then validated via electronic survey of a national sample of 883 quality professionals. Follow-up analyses indicated that the model was content valid for each of the target samples and also distinguished differing levels of job scope and experience. The resulting model contains six domains spanning three organizational levels.