Purpose: The purpose of this study was to develop a model of clinical leadership that encompasses the specialized technical skills and leadership behaviors exhibited by clinical radiography leaders. This was accomplished by addressing the following research questions: (1) What were the commonly practiced clinical leadership behaviors associated with clinical radiography leaders? and (2) What were the common technical skills performed by radiographers that are associated with clinical radiography leaders?
Theoretical Framework: This study was grounded in collaborative leadership which has been developed from the theoretical constructs of experiential learning and clinical supervision. Collaborative leadership occurs when multiple healthcare providers, including radiographers, utilize their clinical expertise and clinical decision-making skills to collectively image, care for, diagnose, and treat the patient.
Methods: During this quantitative study, approximately 432 clinical radiography leaders, completed the Clinical Radiography Leadership Survey, which measured the technical skills and leadership behaviors aligned with clinical leadership in radiography. Data analysis included a correlational analysis to examine the relationships between the dimensions measuring technical skills and dimensions measuring leadership behaviors when defining clinical radiography leaders.
Results: Participant responses were correlated individually, as well as aggregated by dimension, with p \u3e 0.3 being significant. The highest inter-dimensional correlation existed between Dimension 1 and 2 (p = .715) while exhibiting weak correlations to dimensions associated with clinical leadership behaviors. The results of confirmatory factor analysis revealed that a more global view of clinical leadership behaviors, as well as patient care and technical skills, informed participants’ view of clinical radiography leadership.
Significance: This study explored a radiography-specific definition of clinical leadership that more appropriately captured the unique technical skills and leadership behaviors that are exhibited by clinical radiography leaders. By developing a more fine-grained and applicable definition of clinical leadership that is grounded in radiography, educators may embed competencies that align with clinical leadership in their program curriculum. By doing so, this will allow for the development of future clinical radiography leaders who display advanced clinical decision-making skills and provide higher levels of procedure performance and patient care
