Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Healthcare quality improvement professionals are extensively trained in technical methodologies. However, a substantial body of implementation research suggests that leadership engagement, organizational readiness, and individual psychological responses are among the most significant predictors of the adoption and sustainability of evidence-based interventions. Workforce data from the National Association for Healthcare Quality underscore this concern: the Quality Review and Accountability domain, which encompasses the structural mechanisms for sustaining change, is the lowest-scoring competency area across the quality improvement workforce. When change management capability is absent or underdeveloped, the repercussions extend beyond organizational performance to population-level outcomes, including persistent disparities in care quality and inequitable access to the benefits of improvement efforts. This perspective posits that change management should be repositioned from a supplementary leadership skill to a foundational professional competency, with direct implications for workforce development, organizational design, and health system performance. Drawing on five established frameworks and a body of peer-reviewed organizational and implementation science, I argue for curriculum reform, revised certification standards, and governance realignment. This perspective invites the field to assess whether its current investment in technical training is commensurate with evidence regarding the actual determinants of sustainable healthcare improvement.
Source: Discover Public Health
Author: Venkadesan Rajendran
Institutions: Health Sciences North, NOSM University
Language: English
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W7225900241