The School of Nursing & Midwifery at Trinity College Dublin is holding a lecture and workshops on 1 September 2022 exploring improving leadership in healthcare.
‘Toward a more pluralistic approach to leadership in healthcare: the case for Distributed Leadership (DL)’
The day consists of a free public lecture and two workshops priced at €20 each or book both for €35
This event has received Category 1 approval from the NMBI: registered nurses and midwives attending the full day will be awarded 4 CEUs.
The importance of effective leadership in healthcare has been emphasised by a number of authors over the course of several years and nursing leadership is pivotal to this given that nurses represent the largest discipline in healthcare.
Research on leadership has demonstrated a positive relationship with improved patient safety outcomes, healthy work environments; job satisfaction; lower turnover rates; and positive outcomes for organisations, patients, and healthcare providers. While it is true that healthcare leaders face many challenges during the course of their work the need for improved leadership is a well-recognised fact. Making leadership a priority at all levels of healthcare and a core outcome of every healthcare provider have been identified by authors such as Ahmed et al. (2015).
Dr Elizabeth A. Curtis
Lead – Leadership Network Group
How is this to be achieved?
Healthcare professionals are among some of the most talented and highly educated employees in this country and drawing on these talents and knowledge is essential to improving leadership and standards of care. Staff must be able to fulfil their potential and given opportunities to advance their knowledge and skills. Additionally and most importantly, leadership must involve everyone rather than just a few.
While it is essential to have effective leaders in key positions, the most productive type of leadership is distributive in nature.
This form of leadership moves away from the attributes and behaviours of ‘the individual’ as leader to a perspective that embraces a collective process where many individuals have the opportunity to participate in leadership. Moving away from leadership that focuses on a single person (leader-centric view) is supported in the literature by authors such as by Chreim & MacNaughton (2016), Benson & Blackman (2011) and Cordoba et al. (2021). Furthermore, these authors have been critical of leadership research that concentrates on individual leaders and the characteristics/features of leadership and have urged researchers to focus instead on distributed leadership and leadership practices. The recent COVID-19 pandemic presented one of the most significant challenges to health systems globally and further emphasises the need for deft, considerate and inclusive leadership.
Calls for leadership to become a core element of professional programmes starting at undergraduate level would no doubt help to stem the traditional view of reserving leadership education for senior staff. However, it is also necessary to provide further education and training for staff who have already qualified and are working in healthcare facilities. This leadership and inclusivity event is a positive and practical way of getting this process started.
Trinity College Dublin, located in the heart of Dublin city, is steeped in scholarly and national history. Today it remains Ireland’s highest ranked university and within the world’s top one hundred. TCD provides an excellent variety of courses throughout areas in the Arts and Humanities, Business, Law, Engineering, Science and Health Sciences.
.