Leadership in healthcare

Effective leadership by healthcare professionals is vital in modern healthcare settings. The major factor underpinning this is the drive to improve the quality of healthcare provision on a background of ever increasing healthcare demands and need for increased efficiency and productivity. There are many reasons why quality improvement programmes fail, however the lack of engagement of medical staff and their resistance to change are amongst the most important factors. Clinicians who assume leadership roles need to overcome these barriers and adopt a style of leadership that is inclusive and meets the needs of healthcare professionals. Ultimately however, a collective leadership approach is most likely to create and sustain quality improvement.