Leading for quality in healthcare: development and validation of a competency model

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.