TY - JOUR
T1 - Advancing quality culture in health professions education
T2 - experiences and perspectives of educational leaders
AU - Bendermacher, G. W. G.
AU - Dolmans, D. H. J. M.
AU - de Grave, W. S.
AU - Wolfhagen, I. H. A. P.
AU - Oude Egbrink, M. G. A.
N1 - Funding Information:
The author team wishes to thank the course coordinators, bachelor coordinators and directors of education who participated in this study. The first author in particular wants to thank Dries Berings (Catholic University of Leuven) and Gea van Zutven (Fontys University of Applied Sciences, (NL)) for several discussions that provided inspiration for this research, and Angelique van den Heuvel for her help in editing the manuscript.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020, The Author(s).
PY - 2021/5
Y1 - 2021/5
N2 - The concept of quality culture has gained increased attention in health professions education, drawing on insights that quality management processes and positive work-related attitudes of staff in synergy lead to continuous improvement. However, the directions that guide institutions from quality culture theory to educational practice have been missing so far. A prospective qualitative case study of three health professions education programmes was conducted to explore how a quality culture can be enhanced according to the experiences and perspectives of educational leaders. The data collection was structured by an appreciative inquiry approach, supported with vignette-based interviews. A total of 25 participants (a selection of course coordinators, bachelor coordinators and directors of education) reflected on quality culture themes to learn about the best of what is (Discover), envision positive future developments (Dream), identify actions to reach the desired future (Design), and determine how to support and sustain improvement actions (Destiny) within their own educational setting. The results are presented as themes subsumed under these four phases. The experiences and perspectives of educational leaders reveal that peer learning in teams and communities, attention to professional development, and embedding support- and innovation networks, are at the heart of quality culture enhancement. An emphasis on human resources, (inter)relations and contextual awareness of leaders stood out as quality culture catalysts. Educational leaders are therefore encouraged to especially fuel their networking, communication, coalition building, and reflection competencies.
AB - The concept of quality culture has gained increased attention in health professions education, drawing on insights that quality management processes and positive work-related attitudes of staff in synergy lead to continuous improvement. However, the directions that guide institutions from quality culture theory to educational practice have been missing so far. A prospective qualitative case study of three health professions education programmes was conducted to explore how a quality culture can be enhanced according to the experiences and perspectives of educational leaders. The data collection was structured by an appreciative inquiry approach, supported with vignette-based interviews. A total of 25 participants (a selection of course coordinators, bachelor coordinators and directors of education) reflected on quality culture themes to learn about the best of what is (Discover), envision positive future developments (Dream), identify actions to reach the desired future (Design), and determine how to support and sustain improvement actions (Destiny) within their own educational setting. The results are presented as themes subsumed under these four phases. The experiences and perspectives of educational leaders reveal that peer learning in teams and communities, attention to professional development, and embedding support- and innovation networks, are at the heart of quality culture enhancement. An emphasis on human resources, (inter)relations and contextual awareness of leaders stood out as quality culture catalysts. Educational leaders are therefore encouraged to especially fuel their networking, communication, coalition building, and reflection competencies.
KW - Appreciative inquiry
KW - Continuous quality improvement
KW - Educational leadership
KW - Faculty development
KW - Organisational learning
KW - Quality culture
KW - MEDICAL-EDUCATION
KW - ACCREDITATION
KW - IMPROVEMENT
KW - TEACHERS
KW - SCHOOLS
U2 - 10.1007/s10459-020-09996-5
DO - 10.1007/s10459-020-09996-5
M3 - Article
C2 - 33047262
SN - 1382-4996
VL - 26
SP - 467
EP - 487
JO - Advances in Health Sciences Education
JF - Advances in Health Sciences Education
IS - 2
ER -