Leadership Approaches and Continuous Quality Improvement of Teaching in Clinical Practice

Leadership approaches and continuous quality improvement of teaching in clinical
practice
Name
Institution

Introduction
Continuous quality improvement and leadership approaches are of importance
in establishing an effective, quality, and highly productive clinical practice. Research
indicates that there is a necessity to integrate continuous quality improvement and
leadership in the clinical practice curriculum (Amestoy et al., 2017). In the current
context, there are several challenges that face clinical practitioners with emerging
chronic conditions that demand necessary skills for the provision of quality
healthcare. Attention is lately being given to the formation of leaders and imparting
knowledge of continuous quality improvement in the academic field such that it is
transversal when it comes to practice after graduation (Amestoy et al., 2017).
Therefore, the aim of this paper is to evaluate the teaching of clinical practitioners in
continuous quality improvement and leadership approaches. The first section of the
paper will critique the leadership styles, leadership skills, and qualities in the role it
contributes to strengthening the quality of health care. In the preceding section, the
essay will analyze continuous quality improvement in teaching as a measure to
change the clinical practice to improve the patient outcomes. The final section winds
up by giving recommendation and a feasible conclusion.
Leadership is a complete necessity to fortify the quality and outcome of the
healthcare profession. The popular definition of leadership is the ability to influence.
In this sense, leaders of a clinical practice have the ability to guide and control the
staff to deliver care that is focused on the medical needs of individuals seeking their
guidance. Due to the importance and sensitivity of the role played to an institution, it
is necessary for leaders to obtain competencies earlier in the educational institutions.
Early leadership formation coupled with a continuous learning process has a better
chance of delivering the desired output (Salum & Prado, 2014). In order to understand

how leadership is integrated into the curricula, it is essential to look at the leadership
approaches. First off, we look at leadership styles. There are several leadership styles
identified but in this essay, we shall focus on six of them: transformational,
transactional, autocratic, laissez-faire, bureaucratic, and democratic leadership.
Transformational leaders are described as those who create a vision that is
clear to remodel the direction and performance of the organization (Palumbo,
Morosini, Picardi, Gigantesco & Geddes, 2008). They are not driven by self-interest
but more about what they can do to achieve goals of an organization. Such a leader
motivates, inspires confidence, cultures respects, encourages communication and
loyalty which in the long term leads to high productivity among the staff. The
workforce further is more satisfied with their work and morale is high. A transactional
leader work within boundaries set (Palumbo, Morosini, Picardi, Gigantesco &
Geddes, 2008). They are results driven heading to strict rules. They do everything by
the book. This type of leadership is particularly useful when there are strict deadlines
to be met and limited resources it maintains group dynamics and evaluates
performance of each employee. It is the type of leadership that mostly reacts to more
present concerns.
Autocratic style is a more old school leadership style. The leader will exercise
a centralized approach in making decisions. Managers using this style assign or
delegate work and expect it to be done with no questions asked. Typically, there is a
high power distance between the boss and the staff. There is no interaction and the
distinction in rank is very clear (Yukl, 2010). The democratic style of leadership is
generally very liberal. Employees are encouraged to participate and involve
themselves in decision-making processes (Scully, 2015). The opinions, ideas and
feelings of employees matter to the decision process. The leader interacts and gathers