Strategic Health Leadership and Management

Running head: Strategic Health Leadership and Management
Strategic Health Leadership and Management
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1Strategic Health Leadership and Management
What are the author’s central arguments and conclusion? Are they clearly stated? Are
they supported by evidence and analysis?
The authors argue that redesigning clinical processes have allowed significant
improvement in the healthcare delivery in processes such as emergency care and elective
surgery programs in the New South Wales and Finders Medical Center in South Australia,
which can allow benefits for both the patients as well as the staff. The principles that are
involved in the clinical process have been used in other industries, and have shown
significant advantages due to which now it is also used in the healthcare contexts. The
redesigning of the healthcare has also helped to identify those aspects that are critical to the
strategies for implementation to be successful. The elements identified by the authors
include: leadership skills shown by the senior executives, problem solving skills in a team,
clinical leadership skills, highlighting on the journey of the patient in the clinical setup,
access to clinical data, setting up a high and ambitious goals and targets for performance,
strong and efficient management of staff performance and process that can help to maintain
the improvement process in the clinical setup (McGrath et al, 2008, p 17-22).
The authors have clearly identified and outlined each of the aspects that should be
considered while implementing a transformational change in a healthcare setup. The aspects
includes a) efficient leadership skills. b) Engaging clinical leadership c) Involving
multidisciplinary team for the design of the solution. d) Effective implementation. e) Paying
focus on the clinical journey of the patient. f) Making the patients and their care givers a part
of the healthcare team. g) Access to data is also vital as it helps to inform vital clinical
decisions. h) Stretching the abilities and skills of the workforce. i) Ensuring readiness of the
organization towards change. k) Efficient selection of projects is also vital. l) Identifying if
the change is local or system wide. m) Ensuring flexibility in system and continuous
improvement. (McGrath et al, 2008, p55).

2Strategic Health Leadership and Management
The authors however did not support any of the identified aspects with relevant claims
or analysis. It was however mentioned that the aspects have been incorporated from other
change implementation processes used in other countries, but fails to specify which aspects
have been identified from which country, and therefore is ambiguous.
Is the article lacking information or argumentation that you expected to find?
In the given study, the authors identified several important factors which are needed
to be considered while implementing change in a healthcare setting, and which can determine
the success of the implementation project. It helps to design and inform strategies for
effective implementation of change, and hence can be very useful knowledge in the
implementation and sustenance of transformational change in a healthcare setup (McGrath et
al, 2008, p 20). However there are certain other considerations that also can be considered in
the process which have not been discussed by the authors.
According to Lewis et al. (2016, p13), change can be either implemented within a
context that considers organizations as machines, the workers as the cogs and management as
the control system, or within the context of the organization as a living biological system, and
the functions of the workers as vital processes that keeps the organism alive. This forms the
conversational approach towards change, which begins with the preparation for change,
followed by the process being defined, discovered, dreamt and designed followed by the
objectives being outlined.
Other considerations which have also not been discussed by the authors include:
a) The key processes or tasks or technical services (such as implementing cloud based
or ERP softwares, upgrading existing applications, and process improvement methodologies)