Abstract
The incorporation of leadership concepts is at the forefront of agendas to advance
the quality of patient care and innovation in many healthcare professions. In this
Commentary, the authors draw upon evidence from the literature to discuss the theoretical
perspectives of leadership and potential value in radiation therapy practice. For
the patients to be provided with safe and high-quality treatment, continuous change
and improvement are necessary. Leadership has the potential to influence behaviour
change for practitioners and core organisational culture. Several leadership styles
such as the transformational leadership can be applied to achieve a higher level of
patient care and improve the likelihood of enhancing quality and efficiency in healthcare.
These are also paramount to the success of radiation therapy practice. Hence, a higher
priority should be placed on developing leadership in the Radiation Therapist (RT)
workforce and educating new graduates of the potential benefits.
Résumé
L'intégration des notions de leadership est à l'avant-plan des programmes visant à
faire progresser la qualité des soins aux patients et l'innovation dans plusieurs
professions du domaine de la santé. Dans cet article, les auteurs s'appuient sur les
données probantes de la littérature scientifique pour discuter des perspectives théoriques
du leadership et de sa valeur potentielle dans la pratique de la radiothérapie. Pour
que les patients reçoivent des traitements sûrs et de grande qualité, des changements
et une amélioration continus sont nécessaires. Le leadership a le potentiel d'influencer
les changements de comportement chez les praticiens ainsi que la culture organisationnelle
fondamentale. Plusieurs styles de leadership, comme le leadership transformationnel,
peuvent être appliqués pour atteindre un niveau plus élevé de soins aux patients et
améliorer la probabilité d'amélioration de la qualité et de l'efficience des soins
de santé. Ces éléments sont aussi primordiaux pour le succès de la pratique de la
radiothérapie. Par conséquent, une plus grande priorité devrait être accordée au développement
du leadership au sein de l'effectif de radiothérapeutes et à l'enseignement des avantages
potentiels aux nouveaux diplômés.
Keywords
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Article Info
Publication History
Published online: November 04, 2020
Footnotes
Conflicts of interest: None declared.
Identification
Copyright
© 2020 Published by Elsevier Inc. on behalf of Canadian Association of Medical Radiation Technologists.
