Western Health

Colin Baker

Leadership is a fundamental skill required in all areas and sections within healthcare organisations. The leadership of the team seems simple and although it is a combination of multiple disciplines / skills / roles; it actually is!

One philosophy of team leadership in my view is one of best outcome for patients / clients, through each component of the team working together hand in hand with each other.

The ‘team’ is the object – each member and role is equally important in the process / function of the delivery of best care.  It is not about treating one discipline more or less important within the group.  The philosophy is a holistic one that facilitates the organisations strategies to improve the patient / client journey, i.e. improved access, appropriate service and good outcomes.  This leads to more care benefits, added value, user feedback and more strategic thinking and planning.

Each discipline of the team has different needs / skills required to complete the workflows.  These have to be considered independently and in discussion, with those groups involved.  This is carried out through routine stakeholder and group review that includes process detail examination.  However, as part of this discussion, the group benefits from the integrated understanding, required as part of functioning together.  The integration will be addressed, discussed, strategised, solution driven, agreed and tested for implementation.

Through this process above, the outcomes are accepted more easily with modified services and workflows.  It is more complicated and time consuming, as necessary, with reviews for full change management, modification or totally new methods / models of care.

I would draw you back to the team and the single philosophy of providing best care.  The drive is not the individual or the discipline but the integrated workflow each group portrays in the overall service.  The combination of their skills and understanding of the workflow, bond the service together for the expected outcome.

Not all the workflows are even, not everyone is paid the same, or works the same hours / days, however, as repetitive as some may think, the goal, is the common based outcome for everyone.  Even though, from an organisational view, Medical Imaging (MI) is only one component of the patients / clients journey through the organisation.

"One philosophy of team leadership in my view is one of best outcome for patients and clients, through each component of the team working together hand in hand with each other."

Leadership from a team’s perspective can be seen as difficult, as all teams have many needs, opinions, agenda’s, history, like and dislikes, expectations, collateral impact, external stakeholders, just to name a few.  All these aspects need addressing and are important to be heard, but have to be drawn back and gravitated to ‘again’ the one goal and that is for the MI team to work together to generate the best outcomes.  We as a MI team have to enable and allow through the strategy process: innovation, ideas and individual feedback to be part of the routine practice, aligned with that of the organisation.

All discussions undertaken have to take into consideration the unique circumstances that may be presented and the impact they have, however, any final decisions have to be aligned with the expected outcomes and what the impact of these, will have upon it.

Rightly or wrongly you have to be aware of the individuals and align the disciplines within them, as a single team and have a simple common organisational strategic goal, which assists them in producing the right, expected outcomes for those requiring and using the service to be provided.