Empowering nursing faculty to lead academic quality improvement initiatives through standardized professional development
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
6-4-2026
Publication Title
Teaching and Learning in Nursing
Abstract
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.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Smith, Richard and Fowler, Leanne H., "Empowering nursing faculty to lead academic quality improvement initiatives through standardized professional development" (2026). School of Nursing Faculty Publications. 127.
https://digitalscholar.lsuhsc.edu/son_facpubs/127
10.1016/j.teln.2026.05.009