The Clinician in Quality and Innovation: A Qualitative Study of a Novel Academic Pathway at 10 Years

Despite widespread attention to addressing healthcare quality problems, few academic medical centers provide an academic pathway for faculty engaged in such work. This qualitative case study examined physicians and department leaders' perceptions and experiences of a novel "Clinician in Quality and Innovation" (CQI) academic pathway created in 2012. Interviews were conducted with 23 CQI faculty and 7 department leaders. Of the department's 20 divisions, 15 included at least one CQI with a median of 5 per division. Findings demonstrated how the academic track aligned with, and legitimized, CQIs' interests, and allowed for a wide range of "quality and innovation" activities (eg, improving healthcare processes, developing models of care, clinical informatics). Contextual factors such as synergies with hospital-based initiatives for healthcare improvement and changes to academic promotion criteria were instrumental in CQI's performance of the academic role. Despite promotion successes, CQIs described some tensions between academic and clinical role expectations.