Developing a patient-centered leadership philosophy for healthcare

Leadership

For this entry in my leadership journal I will consider the issue of leadership philosophy. From what I have learned thus far, having a clear philosophy of leadership is a starting point. This is a foundational element to one\'s leadership, because it informs the more discrete elements of leadership style. Further, the leadership philosophy is something that can always be referenced in the future, to help navigate issues where tough decisions have to be made.

In leading a healthcare organization, there are several purposes that need to be considered, and these ultimately should be built into the leadership philosophy. Does the organization pursue patient outcomes, or is it oriented towards the staff? Or is the bottom line the most important. A leader has to consider all of these different elements, but I feel that in healthcare, many of us have entered into the field because we want to help others. We do feel that it is a good field with a lot of opportunity to build a career, but there are many fields about which we can say that. So helping others is a distinct feature that defines healthcare. As a leader, recognizing that a patient-focused approach is critical I think is one of the foundational elements of my philosophy -- and I believe that this is a view shared by many of the people with whom I work.

Building on this foundation, I examine the concept of moral reasoning. There are different levels of moral reasoning that need to be considered, but the most important is that our activities should have the net impact of making lives better. Whether those lives are of the patients, their families, or of the people working for me, I feel that improving lives is a key element of my leadership. I do not accept that improving the lives of one of these groups is mutually exclusive to improving the lives of others.

One of the things most evidence in learning about leadership philosophy, and thinking about what my leadership philosophy should be, is the idea that one must be able to understand how these broad overarching ideals manifest in everyday actions. I am a fan of the harm principle, of avoiding doing harm, and this means that by taking care of my workers, and ensuring that they have all the tools necessary to thrive, that I can take care of the patients as well. The patients do better in an environment where everybody is equipped and empowered to do their best to help the patient succeed.

Running with the idea that the patient\'s wellbeing is central to what I want out of the organization is the idea that I must develop metrics and measure the performance of people within the organization on their ability to drive those patient outcomes. Leaders are also managers, in the sense that nobody can run a healthcare organization on grand visions -- those grand visions must have a pragmatic element to them. So I feel that by setting metrics that are predominantly patient-focused, and by empowering my staff to do what they can to improve those metrics, that ultimately everybody wins. I feel that having happy patients and their families is an essential component, and that staff in health care organizations typically gain emotional satisfaction from their ability to help others.