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Review
. 2020 Dec 3;20(Suppl 2):456.
doi: 10.1186/s12909-020-02288-x.

Leadership in healthcare education

Christie van Diggele  1   2 , Annette Burgess  3   4 , Chris Roberts  3   4 , Craig Mellis  5
Affiliations
Review

Leadership in healthcare education

Christie van Diggele et al. BMC Med Educ. .

Abstract

Effective leadership is a complex and highly valued component of healthcare education, increasingly recognised as essential to the delivery of high standards of education, research and clinical practice. To meet the needs of healthcare in the twenty-first century, competent leaders will be increasingly important across all health professions, including allied health, nursing, pharmacy, dentistry, and medicine. Consequently, incorporation of leadership training and development should be part of all health professional curricula. A new type of leader is emerging: one who role models the balance between autonomy and accountability, emphasises teamwork, and focuses on improving patient outcomes. Healthcare education leaders are required to work effectively and collaboratively across discipline and organisational boundaries, where titles are not always linked to leadership roles. This paper briefly considers the current theories of leadership, and explores leadership skills and roles within the context of healthcare education.

Keywords: Leadership; Leadership theory; Management; Organisational goals; Role models; Teamwork.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have no competing interests to declare.

Figures

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Fig. 1
Reflection task
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