401213 Clinical Leadership: Patient Safety and Leadership Styles

This essay delves into the crucial relationship between leadership styles and patient safety within the healthcare sector. It begins by defining leadership and patient safety, emphasizing their interconnectedness, particularly within the nursing profession. The essay explores the importance of effective leadership in guiding nurses to maintain patient safety and deliver quality care, highlighting the role of clinical leadership. The essay examines two primary leadership styles: transformational and transactional. Transformational leadership is presented as a relationship-focused approach that fosters a positive environment and encourages employee dedication to patient safety. Transactional leadership, which is task-oriented, is also discussed, particularly in emergency situations, although its potential drawbacks in prioritizing task completion over patient well-being are noted. The essay uses real-world examples to illustrate how leadership styles impact patient safety, highlighting the importance of addressing issues like diversity, communication gaps, and unethical practices. The conclusion underscores the central role of leadership in maintaining efficient services and achieving both personal and professional goals, ultimately leading to patient satisfaction. The essay is supported by a comprehensive bibliography of relevant research.

Running head: HEALTH CARE ` 0
Clinical Leadership and Management
Essay
Student
9/2/2019

HEALTH CARE 1
Introduction
The main aim of the assignment is to understand the leadership and the management
process which are followed in the health care industry. In the assignment an area is chosen in the
hospital and considering the perspective of the graduated midwife or nurse the challenges
observed will be discussed in the assignment. This assignment is prepared in the essay format so
that the issues which are rising in the healthcare industry can be briefly explained. This
assignment will provide the relationship between the safety of the patient and leadership style.
This information and knowledge will be prepared through analyzing the presentation designed by
the midwife or nurse. In this assignment, two-leadership style that is Transformational and
Transactional leadership style has been selected to understand the concept of medical safety and
to analyses, the process of leadership styles in the promotion medical safety in the healthcare
system.
Clinical Leadership and its Management
Leadership and patient safety are interrelated terms. They hold a great significance in the
health care system, especially in the nursing profession, as nurses are the individual who is in
direct contact with the patients. Effective leadership guides the midwife in not only the
maintaining of the safety of the patient but also assist them in providing quality of medication
services to them (Asamani, Naab, & Ansah Ofei, 2016).
Every nurse was given the task of preparing the PowerPoint presentation. Through PPT,
midwives were asked to share and discuss difficulties that they are facing in the delivery of
efficient services to the patients and how it can be prevented so that it does not occur in the

HEALTH CARE 2
future. As a critical care nurse, I focused on the crucial topics like the association of leadership
as well as on the safety in the health care system. I discussed various leadership style, which can
be adopted in the development safe and secure environment for the patients. The main objective
of conducting this activity is to implement effective leadership in the system to ensure the safety
of the patients.
Leadership is a technique, which is practiced by the management for the attainment of
goals or objectives. Through this procedure, the leader induces employees to strive hard for the
achievement of organizational goals. It is a science as well as an art, as with through this
technique and motivational process, managers motivate and inspire workforce so that they work
with passion and fulfill their responsibilities on time ( Cope & Murray, 2017). This technique is
not only vital for the effective chain of command but also for the profitability of the organization
as it consistently directs the energies and brings productive organizational changes. However,
this technique is full of culture and complexities as the mangers perform leadership style, which
is influenced by various factors like skills, experiences, ethics, and teamwork (Meliniotis, 2015).
In the health care sectors, the safety of the patients is the priority of the medical
professionals and staff. According to the IOM (Institute of Medicine), patients' safety means
revamping the probability of risk which is hazardous to the health of the patients. In the
provision of care, the emphasis was laid on the avoidance of errors, learning from the re-
occurring events and developing a safe working environment (World Health Organization ,
Patient safety, 2019). All these objectives can be achieved through effective leadership (World
Health Organization, Chapter 10: Leadership and Management, 2019).

HEALTH CARE 3
Currently, in the healthcare system, leadership has emerged as a highly adopted method
of conducting operations and dealing with the patients. Leadership in the health economy leads
the medical professionals and midwives in delivering the quality of medical services to cure the
illness of the patients, as effective leaders in the health system are important for fostering good
quality of services and maintaining solidarity in the care (World Health Organization , Patient
safety, 2019). Despite that, on the yearly basis 1out of 4 patients severely got injured while
ambulatory care was received in the outpatient ward. Besides this, about 2.6 million lost their
lives due to unsafe care (Abbott, 2014).
Nurses with the assistance of leadership skills can prevent risk and provide primary
treatment to all the ill patients. It is a moral responsibility of the nurses to look after the health of
the patients and to provide a safe and secure environment for the patients. The purpose of
Clinical nurse leaders is to ensure the timely medical treatment of hospitalized patients. It has
been said that today's Nurse leaders are the change agent people who can bring major
transformations in the health care system (Lappalainen, Harkanen, & Kvist, 2019).
Besides this, Nurse Leaders believe in teamwork and prepare an effective team by
conducting training sessions. Hence, it can be said that in the functioning of the management,
leadership holds a significant position (Thomas, 2016). As per the research, it has been identified
that “Nursing is ever-changing, an energetic and challenging career that wants motivating and
brave role models. In today’s dynamic and demanding condition, recognizing and evolving nurse
leaders is one of the major issues faced by the existing midwives” (McFadden, Stock, & Gowen
II, 2014).

HEALTH CARE 4
To deliver high-quality services to the patients, a different type of leadership style is
followed in the system. Transformational, Transactional, Autocratic, laissez, task-oriented and
Relationship-oriented are some of the styles which are adopted by the leaders for the
achievement of goals. However, from the above theory Transformational and Transactional is
highly adopted and recommended a style of leadership ( Scully, 2015).
“Transformational Style” is considered as a well-recognized, multifaceted and diversified
Ltheory of leadership”. Transformational style is illustrated as relationship leadership where the
leaders and subordinated share a cordial relationship with one other (Merrill, 2015). It is
dynamic, as well as positive aspects, assist the leader or mangers to operate as efficient and
effective leaders. With the help of this style, leaders can influence and encourage employees, so
that organizational achieved can be achieved before time (Thomas, 2016).
In this style, leaders adopt various strategies to prevent errors and any issue that can limit
the scope of treatment ( Auer, Schwendimann, MCommH, Geest, & Ausserhofer, 2014). The
transformational style involves improvement in the hierarchy structure of the care system, which
will eventually reduce the turnover of the nurses from the system. It is a driver theory, which
promotes the dedication of the nurses towards the safety of the patients ( Auer, Schwendimann,
MCommH, Geest, & Ausserhofer, 2014). One of the core elements of this theory is to motivate
and inspire nurses to create a significant impact as well as solve the problems of society ( Cope
& Murray, 2017).
Transactional Leadership style which is task oriented also one of the most preferred style,
which is practiced by the leaders to attain the monthly goals. While practicing this procedure, a
motivating process that is the reward system is followed by the leaders to induce the staff to

HEALTH CARE 5
strive hard to provide the best services to the clients. Through this technique, employees are
given certain targets and on the completion of the target, employees are given remuneration in a
form of incentive (World Health Organization, Chapter 10: Leadership and Management, 2019).
In Nursing, this style is practiced in emergency cases when in the limited time quick and
emergent decisions become the need of the nurses. However, the drawback of this style is that it
is so task-oriented that completion of the task becomes a priority rather than the health of the
patients. ( Cope & Murray, 2017).
However, during the practice, nurse leaders have determined several obstacles that have
become hazardous to the safety of patients (Sawai, 2013). Diversity, lack of interpersonal skills,
the difference in perceptions, prevailing unethical practices, ambiguity among the nurses,
ineffective system, and negligence on the part of patients are some of the issues that have
become a roadblock in providing efficient medication safety ( Willis , Reynolds , & Keleher,
2016).
This fact can be explained with the help of an example. A Road Accident was happened,
in which the victim got minor injuries on his right leg. He thought of taking local treatment
rather than approaching a hospital with appropriate management. During the treatment, the
condition of his leg was started deteriorating and it was a nightmare for him as his leg was
amputated. In the case it was identified that the negligence and lack of knowledge of local
treatment provider have led to such adverse events.
According to a study conducted in 2019, it was analysed that the clinical nurses through
the effective transformational leadership style are providing medical assurance to the patients
( Boamah, Spence Laschinger, Wong, & Clarke, 2018). Besides this, nurse managers must

HEALTH CARE 6
provide necessary feedback to the nursing staff for the effective results as it promotes the
strategy of learning from errors and reward must be given for their efforts, which will motivate
nurses to strive harder and through another theory nurses share vision and mission. They train
nursing staff to maintain medical safety and prepare them for future contingencies (Lappalainen,
Harkanen, & Kvist, 2019).
Conclusion
From the above essay, it can be concluded that the provision of care is an integral part of the
nursing department. Besides this Leadership is a core element for the maintenance of efficient
services to the patients. It is practiced by the nurses to lead nurses towards the accomplishment
of personal and professional goals along with patients’ satisfaction. In this essay, two major
leadership styles theory has been discussed which assist the nurses in promoting medical safety.

HEALTH CARE 7
Bibliography
Auer, C., Schwendimann, R., MCommH, R., Geest, S. D., & Ausserhofer, D. (2014). How
Hospital Leaders Contribute to Patient Safety Through the Development of Trust.
Journal of Nursing Administration, 38-44.
Boamah, S. A., Spence Laschinger, H. K., Wong, C., & Clarke, S. (2018). Effect of
transformational leadership on job satisfaction and patient safety outcomes. Nursing
Outlook, 180-189.
Cope, V., & Murray, M. (2017). Leadership styles in nursing. Nursing Standard, 61-70.
Scully, N. J. (2015). Leadership in nursing: The importance of recognising inherent values and
attributes to secure a positive future for the profession. Collegian, 439-444.
Willis , E., Reynolds , L., & Keleher, H. (2016). Understanding the Australian Health Care
System. Sydney: Elsevier Health Sciences.
Abbott, T. (2014). Health and health care in Australia at a crossroads. Th Lancet, 2100.
Asamani, J. A., Naab, F., & Ansah Ofei, A. M. (2016). Leadership styles in nursing
management: implications for staff outcomes. Jornal of Health Science, 23-36.
Lappalainen, M., Harkanen, M., & Kvist, T. (2019). The relationship between nurse manager’s
transformational leadership style and medication safety. Scandinavian Journal of Caring
Science, 1-13.

HEALTH CARE 8
McFadden, K. L., Stock, G. N., & Gowen II, C. R. (2014). Leadership, safety climate, and
continuous quality improvement: Impact on process quality and patient safety. Journal of
Nursing Administration, 27-37.
Meliniotis, C. (2015, March 30). Effective Nursing Leadership. Retrieved 2019, from Elite
Health care: https://www.elitecme.com/resource-center/nursing/effective-nursing-
leadership/
Merrill, K. C. (2015). Leadership Style and Patient Safety. The Journal of Nursing
Administration, 319-324.
Sawai, A. A. (2013). Leadership of Healthcare Professionals: Where Do We Stand? Oman
Medical Journal, 285-287.
Thomas, C. D. (2016). Transformational Leadership as a Means of Improving Patient Care and
Nursing Retention. 1-130.
World Health Organization . (2019). Patient safety. Retrieved 2019, from World Health
Organization: https://www.who.int/patientsafety/en/
World Health Organization. (2019). Chapter 10: Leadership and Management. Retrieved 2019,
from World Health Organization:
https://www.who.int/hiv/pub/imai/om_10_leadership_management.pdf

HEALTH CARE 9