Using video-reflexive ethnography to capture the complexity of leadership enactment in the healthcare workplace

This research was part of LG’s Ph.D. research which was generously funded by NHS Education for Scotland through SMERC.Current theoretical thinking asserts that leadership should be distributed across many levels of healthcare organisations to improve the patient experience and staff morale. However, much healthcare leadership education focusses on the training and competence of individuals and little attention is paid to the interprofessional workplace and how its inherent complexities might contribute to the emergence of leadership. Underpinned by complexity theory, this research aimed to explore how interprofessional healthcare teams enact leadership at a micro-level through influential acts of organising. A whole (interprofessional) team workplace-based study utilising video-reflexive ethnography occurred in two UK clinical sites. Thematic framework analyses of the video data (video-observation and video-reflexivity sessions) were undertaken, followed by in-depth analyses of human–human and human–material interactions. Data analysis revealed a complex interprofessional environment where leadership is a dynamic process, negotiated and renegotiated in various ways throughout interactions (both formal and informal). Being able to “see” themselves at work gave participants the opportunity to discuss and analyse their everyday leadership practices and challenge some of their sometimes deeply entrenched values, beliefs, practices and assumptions about healthcare leadership. These study findings therefore indicate a need to redefine the way that medical and healthcare educators facilitate leadership development and argue for new approaches to research which shifts the focus from leaders to leadership.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

The Evolution of Faculty-wide Interprofessional Education Workshops

Leadership Development for Interprofessional Education and Collaborative Practice provides historical and current perspectives on leadership in healthcare. Through international examples of how leadership of interprofessional education and practice has developed in various countries, the book builds on the research conducted by the World Health Organisation (2010) and examines how it can make a difference to the care of the patient, client and community. The editors showcase a variety of contexts in which interprofessional education and practice is now taking place and provide guidance for leaders to establish and maintain an environment where everyone involved in the team can 'learn with, from and about each other to improve collaboration and the quality of care'