The APP Leader

I recently finished the University of Lynchburg DMSc program.  The entire program was fantastic, and one of my favorite courses was Organizational Behavior and Leadership.  

I have observed good and bad leadership throughout the course of my healthcare career, but I had never given much thought to leadership theory.  Indeed, the condensed timeframe of PA and NP graduate programs does not allow many opportunities to train on ways to be an effective leader.  

Yet the importance of good leadership seems more relevant than ever.  We have a shortage of healthcare workers in the U.S., and while there are multiple reasons for this shortage, we cannot ignore that “people leave managers, not companies [1].”  

Strong leadership is a crucial component of employee retention, and there is an opportunity for APPs to step into leadership roles within interprofessional healthcare teams.  Compared to other clinicians, PAs and NPs have a unique ability to relate to their support staff.   PAs and NPs must have hundreds of hours of “hands-on medical experience” as a prerequisite to their graduate programs.  PAs and NPs have often worked as medical support staff in their early careers.  This background allows APPs to better empathize with their support staff.

I am drawn to the idea of “servant leadership,” a philosophy that flips traditional organizational hierarchy upside down and requires a leader to focus on “serving” the needs of their followers/employees.  Positive culture shifts, increased productivity, and heightened employee satisfaction are among the natural consequences of servant leadership [2]. On Friday, May 26th, we will discuss how servant leadership fits into the healthcare environment.   

Do you have a leadership style that you gravitate toward in your clinical practice?