Think leadership

The optimal way to approach safety improvement in healthcare is to start by creating alignment among the leadership of the major constituencies the board of directors, physician leaders, and the healthcare system leaders, including the CEO and his 

8 Institute of Medicine, Committee on Quality of Health Care in America, To Err I5 Human  

Building a Safer Health System, eds, Linda T, Kohn, Janet M. Corrigan, and Molla S. Donaldson (Washington, DC National Academy Press, 1999), Viewed at www.nap.edu. 

All constituencies win when patient safety improves. As patient safety and employee safety improve, employee satisfaction improves, organizational citizenship improves, patient satisfaction improves, quality of care improves, malpractice costs decrease, and the overall reputation and financial security of the institution improve. These are documented research findings, not speculation. In reality, ensuring the safety of patients and employees is the only way to keep the entire institutional organism healthy. 

So the issue becomes one of leadership. A small group of leaders need to align themselves around this objective and create a tight, effective coalition among constituencies. 

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In line with recent leadership thinking, leadership development has also shifted from a leader and leader-follower (human capital) focus to also focusing on the social capital, or the relationships and relational practices, in the collective and on increased inclusion of all the interconnected systems (Day, Harrison, Halpin, 2008 McCauley et al., 2010 Riggio, 2008 Uhl-Bien, 2006). Table 10.1 depicts the key differences between more traditional and less inclusive entity-based views of leadership and more inclusive relational-based views. 

Once I had decided on a career in chemistry, I was determined rather single-mindedly to make a success of it. I sometimes think about what would have happened had I chosen a different occupation or field. Having a rather competitive nature, I could probably have done reasonably well in a number of other areas. Certainly for some fields you must be born with a special talent. Musical talent, artistic ability, business acumen, leadership ability, and vision can be further developed. 

In a recent seminar, a medical expert noted that the United States has given away economic and technical dominance in industry after industry to other countries. Healthcare research is one of the few areas in which the U.S. enjoys unparalleled leadership which has enormous impact on the quality of medical care. If the healthcare industry and the academic medical enterprise falters—and this is in danger right now—I think it will be an absolute disaster for this country [40]. Many in pharmacy, medicine, and other healthcare fields would concur with the above statement. The problem is that many others in the public sector do not fully appreciate what is at stake. Pharmacists have an opportunity to help tell the story, as difficult as it sometimes is to convey. 

Thinking about any new initiative you might be embarking on, what will be its managerial and leadership components How do you feel about the leadership aspects Are you ready to take them on Will you ... 

Another term that is used commonly when thinking about management is leadership. While some people use the terms interchangeably to describe characteristics that are expected of people who are in charge of organizations, leadership is a distinctly different skill from management. Leadership involves the ability to inspire or direct others. While it certainly is desirable... 

I think we all know that leadership makes a difference. This is my bottom line. If leadership at the top is committed—regardless of whether the leader is a man or a woman, but preferably if women are seen to be high in the management team and if both men and women at the top are committed—we can make a difference, and we can set the tone, and we can change our environment. If we seriously want to invest in infrastructure to support women s careers in science, we can make a difference. 

Janet G. Osteryoung, National Science Foundation I would like to make a few concluding remarks. One of them has already been made both directly and indirectly by others, but I want to reinforce it. There are a lot of people here from senior ACS leadership. Your presence is very noticeable, and we really appreciate it. I think there is a potential for doing some good things. 

I think the Iranian soldier will fight if he is well led, and if he has come to have a confidence in his officers, especially his senior officers, which he does not now have and which they do not now deserve. I think he is tough, hardy, long-suffering and as brave as any other soldier. What he needs is competent, trustworthy, devoted leadership. I don t think he can have that unless by some miracle the corruption which saps... 

Arnold Beckman died at age 104 in May 2004. Beckman s leadership in science and business spans virtually the entire twentieth century. He was born in 1900 in Cullom, Illinois, a town of 500 people that had no electricity or telephones. Beckman says, In Cullom we were forced to improvise. I think it was a good thing. The son of a blacksmith, Beckman had his interest in science awakened at age nine. At that time, in the attic of his house he discovered J. Dorman Steele s Fourteen Weeks in Chemistry, a book containing instructions for doing chemistry experiments. Beckman became so fascinated with chemistry that his father built him a small chemistry shed in the backyard for his tenth birthday. 

Whimby, A (1984). The key to higher order thinking is precise processing. Educational Leadership, 42, 66-70. 

Be sure to ask each individual if he or she is willing to be a reference before giving contact information to employers— your references will appreciate the heads up and can take some time to think about what they would like to say about you. If possible, point your references in a certain direction. For instance, you might say, "The bank seems interested in my leadership ability. Can you talk about the time I took the lead with the group research project you assigned "... 

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