Utilization of Improvement Methodologies by Healthcare Quality Professionals During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Introduction: This study describes the work of healthcare quality professionals during the COVID-19 pandemic, highlighting the successes and challenges they faced when applying their expertise in performance and process improvement (PPI) to help manage the crisis.

Methods: The researchers performed a descriptive analysis of anonymous survey data collected from members of the National Association for Healthcare Quality professional community who were asked about their improvement work during the pandemic response.

Results: Most survey respondents used improvement methods to a great or moderate extent to measure what was happening (83%), rapidly review processes and practice (81%), and decide where to focus effort (81%).

Why Competency Standardization Matters for Improvement: An Assessment of the Healthcare Quality Workforce.

Healthcare transformation requires a healthcare quality workforce with the requisite expertise to lead, oversee, and implement positive change within healthcare organizations. The National Association for Healthcare Quality (NAHQ) Competency Framework, which spans 29 competencies across 8 domains of healthcare quality, outlines the specific knowledge and skills needed to advance personal and organizational quality goals. This study describes 1,671 responses to the NAHQ Professional Assessment survey from a diverse group of healthcare quality professionals representative of NAHQ's professional community.