Perceptions of clinical leadership amongst West Midlands registrars
International Journal of Leadership in Public Services
ISSN: 1747-9886
Article publication date: 6 May 2014
Abstract
Purpose
Previously published studies about trainee perceptions of clinical leadership, although small in number, have not assessed the opinions of senior registrars nor established their awareness of the relevant leadership frameworks. The paper aims to discuss these issues.
Design/methodology/approach
Survey questions and interview questions were designed and a comparison of the relevant literature was performed. An online survey was sent via e-mail to a potential of 2,126 registrar trainees within the deanery and a series of semi-structured interviews (analysed via a content analysis) were conducted amongst voluntary subjects.
Findings
The response rate for the questionnaire was 247/2,126 (11.6 per cent). Respondents recognised the importance of leadership (90.4 per cent), professionalism (99.6 per cent) and promoted team-working (89.8 per cent). In total, 94.3 per cent of respondents have had ideas for improvement in their workplace; however, only 27.9 per cent have had their ideas for change implemented. Of the 85.5 per cent of trainees who are not aware of the leadership frameworks, 89.1 per cent performed leadership activities either daily or sometimes. The priorities of registrars did appear to differ between the junior and senior grades.
Originality/value
Registrar trainees have a desire to engage and a perceived ability to contribute to service improvement; however, a lack of encouragement, awareness and limited training opportunities serve to hamper the development of clinical leadership potential. This study presents itself as a pilot and will hopefully prompt a larger deanery study to gain a thorough assessment of all trainee perceptions, in order to improve the training programme and ultimately create a generation of consultants equipped to engage in clinical leadership throughout their lifelong career in the National Health Service.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank the following members of the West Midlands deanery in particular, Mr Paul Wilson, Tom de Salis, and Ruhena Begum, Charlotte Fraser and Rakesh Tadi. The authors would also like to thank the deanery programme directors and secretarial staff who responded to their e-mails and were most helpful in their replies, particularly Helen Flood, Ann Moore and Mandy Simpson. Finally, the authors are most grateful to Dr Alexandra Gilbert for her help and the loan of her study questionnaire which aided the design of this study's questionnaire; and to Professor Peter Spurgeon (Institute of Clinical Leadership, Warwick Medical School) for his valued feedback. No financial conflicts of interest or external funding declared for this research project.
Citation
Mendis, D. and Paton, C. (2014), "Perceptions of clinical leadership amongst West Midlands registrars", International Journal of Leadership in Public Services, Vol. 10 No. 2, pp. 108-122. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJLPS-09-2013-0023
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2014, Emerald Group Publishing Limited