Leadership Research Summary:
• Effective leadership is a complex and highly valued component of healthcare education, increasingly recognized 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, emphasizes teamwork, and focuses on improving patient outcomes.
• Healthcare education leaders are required to work effectively and collaboratively across discipline and organizational boundaries, where titles are not always linked to leadership roles. This study considers the current theories of leadership and explores leadership skills and roles within the context of healthcare education.
Leadership Research Implications and Findings:
• Leadership competencies, and the incorporation of leadership development as part of curricula, are identified as important across all health professions, including allied health, nursing, pharmacy, dentistry, and medicine, in meeting the needs of healthcare in the twenty-first century [30].
• With an increase in interprofessional teams and an emphasis on collaboration, more effective outcomes are achieved [5]. Healthcare education leaders are required to work effectively and collaboratively across discipline and organizational boundaries, where titles are not always linked to leadership roles, but may occur in everyday work.
• Good leadership also means knowing when, and how to support others in their endeavors. Provision of opportunities for leadership development is crucial in improving education sectors and health services, and effecting change.
• The future belongs to healthcare education leaders who demonstrate excellence in teamwork, clinical skills, patient centered care [3], and responsibly balance accountability with autonomy.