Leadership in Clinical Practice Essay: 400235, Autumn 2019

This essay delves into the multifaceted nature of leadership in healthcare, emphasizing that no single leadership style is universally effective across all situations. It begins by defining healthcare provision and the importance of clinical leadership, highlighting the need to integrate ideas from both patients and staff. The essay explores various leadership theories, including trait, behavioral, and contingency theories, and underscores the significance of adaptability and critical thinking in leadership. It contrasts leadership and management, stressing that effective leadership necessitates patient-centered care and efficient healthcare delivery systems. The essay analyzes different leadership styles, such as bureaucratic and transformational styles, and discusses how leadership approaches should be tailored to specific clinical scenarios, such as pediatric versus geriatric cases. It also examines the hierarchical structure of leadership within healthcare settings, including the roles of various leaders and the importance of democratic leadership in fostering teamwork and patient-centered care. The essay concludes by emphasizing the need for comprehensive and adaptable leadership in healthcare, advocating for inclusivity, critical thinking, and the ability to adjust leadership styles based on the evolving demands of the clinical environment.

Leadership in health care 1
LEADERSHIP IN HEALTH CARE
Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliation

Leadership in health care 2
Good clinical leadership requires incorporation of ideas from both patients and staff in
order to improve healthcare provision. Healthcare provision is simply defined as attempts to
restore physical, mental and emotional well-being of patients. Patients and clinicians interact in
the healthcare setting in an aim to improve health. There are various health delivery systems that
are put in to place in the health care centers so as to achieve treatment and care of patients in the
facility. Clinical leadership is an art that allows order and integrates harmony in the health care
setting. Good leadership is therefore of importance in any health care setting as it promotes good
health care delivery. There are various leadership and management styles that best suit a given
situation in clinical practice. There is therefore no single leadership that best suites every
situation as it is important for the style to vary in relation to the current clinical situation.
Decision making and problem solving strategies are important aspects of leadership in
any organization in the world today (Kumar & Khiljee, 2016). Good leaders in the health sector
therefore focus in promoting a patient centered care plan and motivating clinicians so as to
achieve better care. It is necessary for the objective of any clinical leadership to focus on
integrating different leadership styles as the situation demands and improving the patient-
physician relationship so as to promote better care (Bercaw, 2017). The aim of this essay is to
explore different leadership theories and styles in clinical practice and give examples on
situations that require different styles so as to accomplish best results. It will analyze various
leadership and management styles in healthcare and their relevance in the same.
The application of leadership in the health care setting is an area of concern because it
affects the progress of any care facility. Various authors explore different styles that impacts a
situation in clinical practice (Jeon et al, 2015). There are various theories that have been
developed over time in an attempt to understand various styles of leadership and defining a good

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leader and manager. The definition of a good leader still remains debatable in our world today.
Some theories say that a leader is born while others state that a leader is made and this has
remained quite debatable over time (Joseph & Huber, 2015). Trait theory (1930-1940) for
example defines leaders based on various characters and traits that make them unique to exercise
leadership. Behavioral theories developed in the 1940s explains that leaders arise from their
behavioral display. Lega, Prenestini & Rosso, (2017) state that for one to be considered a leader
they must behave in a certain way or manner that displays leadership skills.
The contingency theory clearly explains that there is no a single specific leadership style
that can fit in all situation and that styles vary depending on the situation at hand. Leaders should
have critical thinking skills and should apply these skills in accordance to the situation at hand.
Since leadership is an art and beyond just traits, not every leader is born a leader. The interaction
between an individual and the environment therefore shapes a leader and makes him or her
employ the required decision making actions (Gopee & Galloway, 2017). Leadership and
management in health care go hand in hand and psychologists claim that good leadership skills
come with good management within the setting (Parikh & Wardle, 2016). While management
focusses on planning and ensuring the care process is properly arranged and organized, leaders
are involved in shaping and making crucial decisions for the organization.
As stated by Banerjee, Bobrowski & Friedman. (2017), a good leadership style in health
focusses mainly on ensuring that every individual’s need in the setting is satisfied. It aims at
ensuring care is provided in the most efficient manner and is based on the fact that that the
patient is the center of all caring practices. For this to be achieved, health care delivery systems
must be laid out and implemented. With the introduction of new laws and pay systems in the
health sector, health care providers need to adjust on how treatment is carried out and also how

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they interact with each other. The nurse should always listen to the patient without any
discrimination of race or ideology. The nurse should also be kind to the patients and guide them
on how to improve and maintain good health. The bureaucratic form of leadership for example
may not be well suited for a health care. Fischer, (2016) states that it emphasizes on the fact that
leaders should impose rules to their subordinates and that these rules must be followed
completely without any deviation. This therefore may lead to lack of motivation to the entire
working fraternity as they do not have the liberty to make decisions for themselves even if they
think it’s the right way to go about a certain situation.
In the healthcare setting, the physician also takes leadership roles in treating a patient.
The patient in this leadership style might not feel free to ask questions relevant to their health as
they do not feel close to their health provider. The transformational style of leadership on the
other hand might be applicable in a setting to bring change in the way the health workers carry
out their activities. As echoed by Heath, Appan & Gudigantala. (2017), it aims at forming
connection between leaders and followers to enhance change and transformation in the setting. In
discussing leadership styles, a pediatric case for example might require a different approach in
leadership as opposed to a geriatric case therefore leadership is deemed to change from now to
then. A clinical case involving a child for example may require the clinician for example to
breakdown information for the sake of understanding of the patient. It requires a lot of guidance
in the treatment process and providing hope and emotional support to the child whereas that of a
grown up person might require more of listening from the patient’s side so as to advice on the
treatment plan. Therefore leadership changes depending on the situation and the audience
involved.

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In a healthcare setting, there is a hierarchy of leadership that is instituted within the
structure and every leader has a role to play. For example there might be the hospital’s CEO, a
financial manager, medical officers, clinical officers, chief nurse, nurses and security heads. All
these leaders have a role to play in order to ensure the well-being and safety of the patient.
Democratic leadership is a good form of leadership style that encourages the participation of all
team members by incorporating everyone’s idea thereby enhancing teamwork and better
performances (Ho & Pinney, 2016, January). It offers a patient and employee friendly
environment and is best suited for particular cases. As the industry is changing over time, team
work based leadership is becoming exercised as opposed to the ordinary bureaucratic leadership.
The patient views and beliefs should be placed into consideration in the treatment process as it
encourages better understanding of the situation and also help achieve a patient based care
program.
According to Richter et al. (2015), different situations in clinical practice require different
approaches. For example, an acute care setting focusses mainly on acute conditions that require
immediate action and management for the healing process to be achieved. A patient for example
who comes to the hospital with a case of a heart attack will require immediate management and
care. An outpatient related case will also require a treatment plan for the same day. The
leadership style that could best fit such situations would therefore be autocratic. However a
chronic clinical case will require admission and careful monitoring of the patient over time hence
will employ a different leadership approach such as the democratic form of leadership. As people
in healthcare organizations are promoted to assume more leadership roles, they bring change in
the way things are run within the organization (Spurgeon et al, 2017). New ideas are brought by
new leaders and this helps improve the care providence. There are very few new leaders who use

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the same systems as used in the past as this does not bring change or improvements needed. The
team leadership model encourages all team members and partakers in the health setting to work
together so as to accomplish the desired goals and targets. It promotes unity between workers
and promotes togetherness.
In conclusion, leadership in healthcare should be comprehensive and adapted according
to the situation. There is no one style that represents all other styles of leadership. Leadership
requires change to bring improvements in any organization as what might have worked in the
past might not work today. As nurses are taking more leadership roles in health care settings,
there is a positive change in ensuring that health delivery is improved as they have interacted
with the environment already and are aware of the pros and cons within the industry. As stated
by Denis & van Gestel, (2016), there are many factors that determine good leadership and this
factors include inclusivity of all partakers in the organizations. Leadership cannot be self-
centered and decision making process needs to involve all leadership styles for it to be effective
and efficient. Leadership is an art that comes with responsibility and therefore good leadership
encourages diversity and is liable to change as the situation demands (Kalaitzi & Czabanowska,
2016). It is an interplay between critical thinking and the environmental changes. This shapes a
good leader and encourages inclusivity of every single leadership style. It is the responsibility of
all of us to therefore encourage leadership that changes depending on the situation so as to
accomplish comprehensive health care provision in our health care facilities.

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