# Leading Healthcare Improvement: Leadership Training for Applying ImprovementStrategies

> **NIH VA I50** · MICHAEL E DEBAKEY VA MEDICAL CENTER · 2021 · —

## Abstract

Health care systems are complex; sustaining improvements in healthcare quality requires the use of
tailored implementation strategies. However, the utilization of implementation strategies without an
understanding of different organizational and leadership contexts results in healthcare improvements that are
variably successful due to partial implementation or limited sustainability. Diffusion of clinical best practices
requires effective leaders at every level of the healthcare system, including front-line providers and operational
staff. Clinicians and staff who are “active and influential citizens of the healthcare community” are able to
influence healthcare change. Moreover, health professionals trained in leadership principles and facile with
improvement strategies are better equipped to translate clinical best practices within a local healthcare context,
effectively manage interpersonal relationships, and cultivate partnerships needed to spread and sustain
improvement. Despite the necessity of and synergy for teaching implementation strategies and leadership
concepts together, these methods are usually taught in isolation. We propose an innovative training program
for a multifaceted implementation strategy that integrates the strength of an evidence-based improvement
strategy, (Model for Improvement) and leadership skills for change management (Leading Change).
 The VA Quality Scholars (VAQS) program, a national training program at 11 VA medical centers
throughout the United States, trains interprofessional clinician leaders, including physicians, nurses, clinical
psychologists, pharmacists and other healthcare professionals, in quality improvement, implementation, and
leadership for change management. To this end, the leaders of the VAQS Coordinating Center have
developed a methodology called “Leading Healthcare Improvement (LHI)” that integrates two empirically
supported implementation strategies, evidence-based quality improvement and leadership for change
management. The LHI training program has been tested with VAQS fellows and is ready to be adapted and
condensed for frontline clinicians and operational staff to facilitate implementation of clinical best practices.
 Building upon the QUERI-funded startup period, we will continue to foster relationships with QUERI
leadership and the Diffusion of Excellence program to train frontline providers, specifically Gold Status Fellows
and Implementing Facility Fellows. We will finalize the adaptation of LHI program materials for frontline
providers and operational staff by incorporating feedback from end-user assessments. Through the proposed
program, “Leading Healthcare Improvement: Leadership Training for Applying Improvement Strategies,” we will
adapt and condense the practical knowledge and skills-based components of the VAQS LHI curricula to train
frontline providers to implement clinical best practices. We will achieve the program goal of training frontline
providers to effectively lead t...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10181060
- **Project number:** 5I50HX002814-02
- **Recipient organization:** MICHAEL E DEBAKEY VA MEDICAL CENTER
- **Principal Investigator:** Kyler M. Godwin
- **Activity code:** I50 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** VA
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** —
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-04-01 → 2024-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10181060

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10181060, Leading Healthcare Improvement: Leadership Training for Applying ImprovementStrategies (5I50HX002814-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10181060. Licensed CC0.

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