Mayo Clinic Proceedings
Victor F. Trastek, MD; Neil W. Hamilton, JD; Emily E. Niles, BS, JD;
February 03, 2014
Credit to the image:
This is an excerpt from the paper “Leadership Models in Health Care – The Case for Servant Leadership”, focusing in the topic of the title of this article.
Our current health care system is broken and unsustainable.
- Patients desire the highest quality care, and it needs to cost less.
- To regain public trust, the health care system must change and adapt to the current needs of patients.
- The diverse group of stakeholders in the health care system creates challenges for improving the value of care.
- Health care providers are in the best position to determine effective ways of improving the value of care.
- To create change, health care providers must learn how to effectively lead patients, those within health care organizations, and other stakeholders.
The diverging purposes and goals of the various stakeholders increase the complexity of the issues that confront the health care system.
Making effective and lasting changes to increase quality of care and lower costs and thus improve value requires leadership.
Of all the stakeholders, health care providers should be at the forefront as leaders because of their unique understanding of and interaction with the patient.
- Health care providers can improve patient outcomes by encouraging patient adherence to therapy.
- They can also decrease patient costs by avoiding unnecessary tests, procedures, and medications.
- Health care providers can identify gaps in technology and medical procedures to lead change that increases the value of health care.
- Last and most importantly, health care providers should always be aligned with the best interests of the patient.
Although the constant and rapid changes in the current health care landscape may be putting pressure on this bedrock concept of health care, it remains the primary value of the entire profession.
As hands-on service professionals, health care providers are capable of effecting change in health care delivery.
Health care providers serve as leaders in their relationship with patients.
- Patients seek their leadership for diagnosis, assessment, advice, and treatment.
- Health care providers lead patients by educating and delivering appropriate care, enabling patients to make well-informed decisions that the patient determines are in his or her best interest.
Trust is an essential component in the relationship between health care providers and patients.
- That relationship is caring, intimate, and crucial for the patient’s well-being, the health care experience, and can improve the value equation in health care.
In addition, health care providers must assume a leadership role beyond their relationship with patients. Teams are integral to health care delivery.
- A health care provider working as a leader will nurture the development of his or her fellow health care providers and ensure professional, ethical, and value-driven standards.
- A strong leader enables teams to function safely and efficiently and keeps the best interests of patients an utmost priority.
Health care providers must also serve as leaders within health care organizations.
- Strong relationships between health care providers and health care organizations can facilitate changes to improve the value of care for patients.
- By assuming a leadership role, health care providers can guide the health care system to improve not only value but sustainability as well.
Leadership is equally important within the health care provider network of peers.
- Health care providers rely on their professional peers to relay important scientific and health care delivery developments.
- Within the group, individuals can serve as leaders through their commitment to professional and ethical behavior.
- This kind of leadership is valuable within a single health care organization, regionally among professional peers, and even nationally, because they have the opportunity to share their work.
KEY MESSAGES (from the full version)
The challenges facing health care require strong leadership.
The model of leadership will vary depending on the situation, and in reality a leader may exhibit a blend of leadership models.
The purpose of leadership is to work with others to improve the situation.
Because health care is about people caring for others and there should be alignment with how we treat patients and how we work together as staff, servant leadership may be considered a dominant model.
Servant leadership is best aligned with the professional and ethical duties of health care providers in delivering the high-value care patients deserve.
Servant leadership focuses on trust and empowerment in both the patient relationship and the health care provider team relationships.
The challenges faced by the health care system extend beyond the clinical setting. Servant leadership can also stimulate necessary change so that all health care stakeholders focus on serving others: their patients and their staff.
By aligning health care stakeholders to serve patients and each other, a more sustainable health care system providing an improved value equation of high-quality care and lower cost is possible.
