Abstract

SANCHEZ MENDIOLA, Melchor. Leadership in medicine: should we teach and assess it?. Investigación educ. médica [online]. 2015, vol.4, n.14, pp.99-107. ISSN 2007-5057.

Introduction: The teaching and practice of the health sciences has become an ever more complex task, saturated with challenges that require leadership skills and organizational change. In the last 20 or 30 years, the academic productivity on leadership has had a veritable explosion. Teachers and learners involved in human resources training in health need to be aware of this information, in order to use it in their practice and personal development. Objective: To provide a current overview of leadership in medicine and its educational implications. Method: Narrative review of the literature. The following themes were analyzed: relevance of leadership in the teaching and practice of medicine; definition of leadership; leadership as trait vs. process; assigned vs. emergent leadership; leadership vs. management; teaching leadership in the medical education continuum; reflections about its learning and assessment. Discussion: The appropriate application of the modern concepts of leadership can be a determining factor of the educational and clinical outcomes in hospitals and universities. There is a vast amount of academic literature on the topic that can inform clinicians and healthcare teachers, as well as an enormous vailability of online and face-to-face educational activities on leadership in healthcare and education. Two exemplar models of the application of the leadership concept in medical education have taken place in Canada and the United Kingdom. The majority of original research papers on leadership in medicine and medical education have been published in North America, thus there is a need for original studies and curricular development on healthcare leadership in a local and national context, without losing the global perspective. Conclusion: Competencies in effective leadership should be considered during educational planning in healthcare professions schools and health sciences institutions.

Keywords : Leadership; Organizational change; Competency; Medical education; Mexico.

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