Health Care Leaders' Perspectives on How Continuous Professional Development Can Be Promoted in a Hospital Organization

Leaders play a central role in continuous learning processes aimed to improve health care. However, knowledge of how leaders with power and influence in hospital organizations promote the means for continuous learning in practice is scarce. This study aims to explore how key stakeholders in a hospital organization think about approaches and roles when promoting the reflective practice in small groups as means for continuous professional development in their organizations. METHODS: Six key stakeholders from a regional hospital (two department directors, two ward managers, and two resident supervisors) were recruited through purposive sampling. Semi-structured interviews were conducted, and an abductive content analysis was performed. RESULTS: In the current study, leaders stressed that cultural and structural conditions at all levels in the system were important for the practice of small-group learning. Yet, their suggested approaches referred exclusively to a limited part of the system and were directed to staff at lower hierarchical levels within their jurisdictions. DISCUSSION: The identified gap between the suggested approaches and the claimed conditions for implementing a new strategy for continuous professional development among leaders in a health care organization illuminates difficulties in the implementation process. Providing adequate conditions at all levels of the system demands implementation approaches that include the entire hospital system. This requires that leaders first recognize their need to learn and apply a systemic perspective, and second, that they can create such learning opportunities for themselves.