Leadership and Management Define The Core Of Emergency Medicine

Great achievers have always managed themselves. This assumption made by management guru Peter F. Drucker holds true for emergency medicine as well. Today, healthcare facilities, practices and specialties can be handled most successfully by physicians and teams with truly unique skills. It takes much more than just the skills to incubate a patient with respiratory failure or diagnose and treat a heart attack patient. Emergency physicians must have the ability to lead teams through medical, surgical and psychiatric emergencies simultaneously. In addition, they must effectively manage the clinical and administrative activities in an emergency department. Therefore, it is evident that leadership and management are two aspects at the core of emergency medicine.

Leadership challenges in emergency medicine

Some of the major leadership challenges in emergency medicine include overcrowding, recruitment, funding, mentorship, introducing and adapting to new programs and models of care, and changes in the hospital or health system. The medical director sets the standard for the entire emergency department and therefore needs to be able to lead from the front with ongoing leadership development training and support from colleagues. Emergency departments are not only high risk but also high pressure environments where only strong leadership can ensure that patients receive timely, high quality care and also makes certain that team members are supported and valued so that they perform at their best.

The benefits of efficient leadership and management

In an emergency department, leadership skills are crucial and are demonstrated in not only the care of patients but also in the constant direction and supervision of a highly motivated team even in the event of overcrowding or staff shortages. Strong leadership results in the implementation of pertinent methods of prioritization, assessment, intervention, resuscitation and management of patients until they are transferred from the emergency department. Today, every emergency medicine resident must train to become a clinician and manager in order to develop and implement innovative healthcare solutions. This is made possible with a range of educational options. Dr. Rowan Molnar, currently a Senior Specialist Anaesthetist , former Medical Education Director (Anaesthesia) at St. Vincent’s Simulation Centre in Melbourne Australia, and also an educator at external organisations actively works towards formally developing leadership and management in emergency departments.

This content is written by a professional author who describe the detail of Dr. Rowan Molnar.