EQual and the Canadian College of Health Leaders (CCHL) partner to advance global health leadership
September 26, 2022
Accreditation Canada’s education quality (EQual) program, which specializes in competency-based accreditation of higher-health professional education programs, and the Canadian College of Health Leaders (CCHL) have formed a partnership to promote and advance quality health leadership education.
CCHL, which developed the LEADS Framework and sentinel behaviours, promotes health leadership excellence in partnership with its network of over 4,000 members and other partners. CCHL plays an essential role in Canada and globally promoting health leadership professionalization and lifelong learning.
The pandemic and many other significant contributing factors have placed heavy demands on today’s health systems and workforce. The workforce demands are such that many have recently described today’s health environment as a ‘crisis’ of epidemic proportions. This crisis is felt at all levels of health care, including at all levels of leadership. EQual and CCHL’s new health leadership specialty accreditation will enable health leaders and health professional educators to collaborate to improve health systems by ensuring that the next generation of health leaders benefit from quality education.
“We are growing our program, and we have an exciting opportunity here to help prepare health professional graduates to be entry to practice, mid or senior level health leaders,” said Carl Damour, Director of Health Education Accreditation Canada (AC). Through this partnership, existing EQual-accredited health professional programs will have the opportunity to add this specialty to their credentials. Achieving health leadership specialty accreditation will enable program graduates’ eligibility to obtain the Canadian Health Executive (CHE) designation, in addition to their existing health professional designation.
“EQual and CCHL are tuned in to health care demands and needs, and we want to offer our partner organizations quality experiences and services. Together we will also work with health professional educational programs that are not yet accredited and offer health management education so that they can also become accredited with this specialty. Ultimately, we see great potential with this partnership and the important impacts we can make in enhancing health leadership competency and capabilities,” Damour added.
With more than 18 collaborating health professions and over 250 already accredited health professional programs, EQual’s global competency-based accreditation program plays a vital role in preparing new graduates to meet the growing demands for a more capable and quality-minded skilled workforce.
If you offer health professional education and your program is ready for health leadership specialty accreditation, and you want to be part of a growing movement that is making a ‘real’ health system difference by providing graduates with a new opportunity to be recognized as health leaders, please reach out to the EQual Team here.
If you currently hold Canadian Health Executive (CHE) designation, and whether you are or are not already an EQual accreditation surveyor but are interested in taking part as a surveyor in support of our exciting project – we want to hear from you! Apply here.
About EQual
EQual = Education Quality
EQual is Accreditation Canada’s specialized health professional education accreditation program that helps health professions, higher education institutions, and programs deliver quality education to the future health workforce. EQual supports health professions and programs in developing competent health professional graduates through:
- promoting reflective competency-based practices
- engaging educators in quality improvement initiatives and establishing clear quality education accountabilities
- innovating to align professional competency profiles and jurisdictional regulatory requirements in education program curriculum
- developing and delivering high-impact and continuous accreditation assessments activities