Evaluating leadership development in postgraduate medical education

Purpose - Medical leadership has attracted significant attention over the recent years as one of the factors that could potentially improve quality in healthcare. In response, various stakeholders in UK medical education have been looking into the most efficient ways of developing leadership among trainee doctors and invested in various courses and programmes. This paper aims to briefly set the theoretical basis for evaluating leadership development in postgraduate medical education. Design/methodology/approach - Critical review of available theoretical and empirical literature and review of the content of a number of leadership and management development programmes available to postgraduate trainee doctors in the UK. Findings - This review suggests that programme evaluation can be approached through four different "frames": their pedagogical content, the conceptualisation and achievement of leadership, the contribution in quality improvement and the consideration of practical aspects that increase engagement and participation. On this basis empirical methodologies of evaluation can be developed. Originality/value - The evaluation of leadership initiatives for medical trainees is an important task that has not been adequately addressed in the literature. This paper provides a theoretical approach to developing more robust methodologies of evaluation.