Review article: Systematic literature review of leadership in emergency departments

Emergency medicine (EM) is a discipline with complex leadership demands. However, studies of EM physician leadership and ED leadership are in their infancy. As such, there is a lack of clarity about the forms, antecedents, enablers, barriers and consequences of EM physician leadership. A systematic review of the scientific literature was conducted to reveal the different conceptualisations of EM physician leadership, the activities involved in the practice of leadership, and the knowledge and skills of effective ED leaders. Seven databases were systematically searched for peer-reviewed empirical studies on the topic of EM physicians carrying out a manager or leadership role in an ED setting. Finally, 26 articles were included, and their findings were synthesised and analysed narratively. Two conceptualisations of EM physician leadership were found, reflecting clinical leadership and medical leadership, respectively. Clinical leadership is performed by all EM physicians, often informally, within their daily clinical practice, whereas medical leadership is performed by EM physicians who work at the management level within a hospital, in addition to or instead of their clinical practice. The focus of EM physician leadership and ED leadership research is team leadership, with much less attention given to wider organisation leadership. Consistent with the focus on team leadership, clinical knowledge and skill in orchestrating teams, especially trauma and resuscitation teams, emerged as the most important factors underpinning leadership effectiveness. Future research and training should make better use of existing leadership theory and research designs to illuminate the forms, dynamics, antecedents, moderators and consequences of EM physician leadership.