Leadership Styles and Patient Safety

Running Head: LEADERSHIP STYLES AND PATIENT SAFETY
LEADERSHIP STYLES AND PATIENT SAFETY
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LEADERSHIP STYLES AND PATIENT SAFETY
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Introduction
Leadership refers to the art of moving a cluster of persons towards the achievement of a
common objective. In a hospital environment, it means giving direction to nurses and other
subordinate workers to meet the needs of the healthcare units. Leaders should be in a position to
inspire others and be ready to do so. Leadership is important since it ensures that client’s safety
is considered in healthcare environment. A leadership style is a manner in which directions are
offered, plans are implemented and how persons in an organization are motivated. It involves the
overall pattern of both explicit and implicit actions that are performed by the leaders in an
organization. Patient safety, on the other hand, refers to the eversion of blunders and severe
impacts on clients affiliated to healthcare. Healthcare has become more productive but at the
same time more complicated as a result of the utilization of the new technologies, therapeutics
and treatments. This paper will discuss leadership styles and their effects on patient safety in
healthcare environment. The relationship between the leadership styles will also be covered.
Relationship between Leadership Styles and Health Safety
There exists a positive correlation between leadership and the safety of the patients.
However, future examinations of leadership models that measure the mechanism of influence on
outcomes are warranted. The efforts made by leaders and the subordinate workers in healthcare
leads to reinforcement of organizational strategies (Wong, Cummings, & Ducharme, 2013).
Different leadership styles have different consequences on the safety of the patient. Affective
leadership styles ensure that there is appropriate staffing and other required resources are put in
place to achieve patient safety. Leadership styles are essential since leaders apply them in
decision making and also influence nurses on the activities that they should undertake to make

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sure that patient safety is maintained (Laschingr, 2014). The ongoing health safety concerns and
shortage of nurses can be used to test the ability of leaders in healthcare units in sustaining and
improving the level of patient care and safety.
Leadership is an important aspect in healthcare.it is important since it ensures that the right
safety measures are taken for the patients.
Transformational Leadership Style
This is regarded as the leadership style that brings about positive developments in an
organization. A leader who is transformational focuses on making achievements by involving the
subordinate members of the organization. With the aim of making a change in the organization,
the leader makes trials to overhaul the culture of the organization (Merrill, 2015). Particular
techniques that are used by transformational leaders including creating awareness of the
significance of specific rewards and getting workers to look beyond personal gains at the
expense of the safety of the patients or well-being of the other organizational workers.
Transformational leaders carry their duties out of the deeply held personal values like integrity,
selflessness and justice, among others (Parand, et al., 2014). Through the expression of
standards, the leaders can unite their affiliates and change the goals of the followers and their
beliefs too. This form of leadership results in the attainment of a higher level of performance
among persons.
Transformational leaders help people to achieve their goals and objectives and
acknowledge the need for change. The transformational leader commits themselves to greatness
and employs a long-range ambition, trust and concentrates the resources where there is a need for
change and increasing the aspirations of the followers in a more constructive manner