Competency assessment and development among health-care leaders: results of a cross-sectional survey

Abstract

In light of the challenges involved in leading a health care organization, it is important that the executives and managers charged with doing so are competent in a variety of areas. However, leading at all organizational levels does not necessarily require the same levels and types of competencies. The purpose of this research is to determine how well competency training works in health care organizations, and to obtain a better understanding of the competencies needed for leaders at different points of their careers and at various organizational levels. Ten health care management competency domains thought to positively influence job performance for health care executives are presented. The study seeks to answer four hypotheses related to self-perceptions of competencies and training opportunities at various hierarchical levels. A survey method was used to sample a subset of the healthcare executive population in the USA, based on three variables of interest, competency training opportunities, self-reported level of competency and hierarchical level. A series of Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney U tests were conducted to identify perceived differences in both competency level and training opportunities among respondents of various hierarchical levels. The most significant result of our research is that competency training is effective in health care organizations. The implications and need for additional research are discussed.

Developing senior hospital managers: does ‘one size fit all’? – evidence from the evolving Chinese health system

“…However, their perception of the importance of training to improve their management competence and thus management outcomes has yet to be investigated. As mentioned in the introduction, training and education in health service management / health administration has received greater support among developed countries [33,34] and effective training is an important human resource management practice for improving the competence of the health service management workforce [10,11]. Such recognition is partly due to the generation of evidence linking the competence of health managers with better health service delivery and linking the improved competence of health managers via formal management training and education [8,9,33].…”

“…There is empirical evidence which suggests that management competency is positively linked to improved management outcomes, hence better health service delivery and health service / patient outcomes [8,9]. Evidence also confirms that competence can be acquired and developed through training and continuous professional development [10,11]. The increasing investment in formal management training for health service managers in developed countries such as postgraduate programs in health service administration / management is evidence of the importance of management competency development [12].…”

Towards a Consensus of a Competency Framework for Clinical Supervision in Nursing: Knowledge, Attitudes, and Skills

“…Scrutinize the relevant education, policy, and practice literature and this will reveal that the issue of "competency" of individuals who provide health and human services has received increasing attention over the past decade (Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations [JCAHO], 2000;Calhoun et al, 2008;Yarbrough, Stowe, & Haefner, 2012). Whether motivated by increasing concerns within both public and private sector users regarding practice efficacy and safety, or by the concerns raised by scrutinizing wide variations in practice patterns, or the (relative) absence of evidence-based or evidence-informed practice or merely the sheer volume of reports of errors in health care (Institute of Medicine, 2000, the calls for increases in competency-based performance systems are a matter of record (Calhoun et al, 2008).…”

Developing senior hospital managers: does ‘one size fit all’? – evidence from the evolving Chinese Health System

“…There is empirical evidence which suggests that management competency is positively linked to improved management outcomes, hence better health service delivery and health service / patient outcomes [8,9]. Evidence also confirms that competence can be acquired and developed through training and continuous professional development [11,12]. The increasing investment in formal management training for health service managers in developed countries such as postgraduate programs in health service administration / management is evidence of the importance of management competency development [10].…”