Empowering nursing faculty to lead academic quality improvement initiatives through standardized professional development

Background Academic nursing accreditation agencies in the U.S. require ongoing quality improvement (QI) led by or with significant involvement of nursing program faculty. Aim A QI project was designed to standardize academic QI initiatives and increase nursing faculty leadership of data-driven improvements. Methods The Institute for Healthcare Improvement Model for Improvement and the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services Guide to Quality Assurance were used to develop a handbook and professional development program to standardize academic QI initiatives. A 5-point Likert scale was used to evaluate the professional development program. Results A total of sixteen participants rated the professional development program highly. Participants identified two new opportunities for improvement. One project was operationalized. Conclusions Standardizing professional development with a focus on empowering nursing faculty to identify and lead QI initiatives can support organizational culture and accreditation requirements. Engaging nursing faculty in academic QI initiatives should routinely occur to support student success, program outcomes, and faculty for professional development. Academic nursing leaders can increase faculty engagement and leadership of initiatives by standardizing QI processes.