Leadership in Healthcare

ISBN-10
0387792546
ISBN-13
9780387792545
Series
Leadership in Healthcare
Category
Medical / General
Language
English
Published
2009-05-15
Publisher
Springer New York
Author
Richard B. Gunderman

Description

If physicians, nurses, dentists, and other health professionals do not understand the psychological and organizational dimensions of healthcare, the quality of care we provide our patients and our own level of professional fulfillment will inevitably suffer. By contrast, if we operate with a deep understanding of our own daily opportunities to lead, the value of effective leadership, and the immense contributions that health professional-leaders can make to our patients, colleagues, organizations, communities, and professions, then our healthcare systems can do a much better job of meeting our needs.

Currently, health professionals spend thousands of hours studying the science and techniques of healthcare. Physicians, for example, learn an incredible amount about anatomy, physiology, pathology, pharmacology, and the clinical disciplines of medicine. By contrast, leadership and the traits of effective leaders are rarely or never mentioned in the curricula of medical schools and post-graduate training programs.

As a result, health professionals are relatively under-represented in leadership positions in healthcare organizations. The chief executives of hospitals are more likely to be trained in business than in the health professions, and healthcare organizations tend to be run more and more like any other business and less and less according to professional principles and aspirations.

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