Abstract
PurposeQuality improvement is an international priority, and health organisations invest heavily in this endeavour. Little, however, is known of the role and perspectives of Quality Improvement Managers who are responsible for quality improvement implementation. We explored the quality improvement managers’ accounts of what competencies and qualities they require to achieve day-to-day and long-term quality improvement objectives.DesignQualitative exploratory design using an interpretivist approach with semi-structured interviews analysed thematically.Setting and participants.Interviews were conducted with 56 quality improvement managers from 15 (out of 20) New Zealand District Health Boards. Participants were divided into two groups: traditional and clinical quality improvement managers. The former group consisted of those with formal quality improvement education—typically operations managers or process engineers. The latter group was represented by clinical staff—physicians and nurses—who received on-the-job training.ResultsThree themes were identified: quality improvement expertise, leadership competencies and interpersonal competencies. Effective quality improvement managers require quality improvement experience and expertise in healthcare environments. They require leadership competencies including sense-giving, taking a long-term view and systems thinking. They also require interpersonal competencies including approachability, trustworthiness and supportiveness. Traditional and clinical quality improvement managers attributed different value to these characteristics with traditional quality improvement managers emphasising leadership competencies and interpersonal skills more than clinical quality improvement managers.ConclusionsWe differentiate between traditional and clinical quality improvement managers, and suggest how both groups can be better prepared to be effective in their roles. Both groups require a comprehensive socialisation and training process designed to meet specific learning needs.
Highlights
Quality Improvement (QI) methods—lean thinking, six sigma, model for improvement, co-design andAkmal et al BMC Health Services Research (2022) 22:50 the like—are indispensable in ensuring safe, effective and timely patient care [1,2,3,4,5,6]
We differentiate between traditional and clinical quality improvement managers, and suggest how both groups can be better prepared to be effective in their roles
The perspectives of Quality Improvement Managers (QIMs) who have responsibility for QI implementation has not been well-studied to date [29, 30]
Summary
The majority of QI implementations tend to be small in scope, being limited to single HO departments [19] They remain focused on tool-based QI, i.e. implementation of a few simplified QI tools in a single value-stream or process without exploring and implementing the soft side of QI: QI culture based on value for customers (patients, families and HO employees), empowerment and continuous improvement [20,21,22]. They often fail to bring about desired improvements [9, 10, 18, 22,23,24,25,26]. The perspectives of Quality Improvement Managers (QIMs) who have responsibility for QI implementation has not been well-studied to date [29, 30]
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