When you make your choices to study at college, it’s often not until you are in the working world that you truly decide where you want to go in life. When you choose to study in a field as complex and ever-changing as medicine, it makes sense that you would be made aware of the challenges in healthcare today. There is a desperate need for innovation in the medical field and with the huge challenge of financial constraints across the board, even the most developed health systems are struggling to keep up. It takes a very committed workforce to stand together to face these challenges and even stronger leader to steer their staff to success.
Choosing to go from being in a position where you have leaders above you, and step into the shoes of a leader is a big step to take in your career, especially in a field like medicine. By choosing to study further in your chosen career, you are choosing to play a part in promoting the improvements in the service. It’s a misconception that high flying leaders in the medical field are often isolated from their colleagues and practicing medicine itself, when in fact leaders in medicine are people who are a step above you and contributing to furthering the service improvements that are in need. There are now so many options and different ARRT CE Courses for medical professionals to take to further their education and learn more in their roles. Additionally, there are Executive Leadership Coaching courses available for medical professionals to help them become effective leaders. So, what does leadership mean in the medical field?
As with any career, leadership is about setting goals and guiding staff toward working for those goals. Setting a direction and managing others are very important tasks and doctors and nurses in leadership often learn everything that they need to learn about leadership while they’re training. Some who study as nurses instead of doctors often decide that studying further in their job is best for them, and they look for what is a Certified Nursing Administrator and study toward it. Gaining a masters degree in nursing administration can prepare an RN for a career in management and leadership, while also having the chance to create infrastructure that works for their department. Patient care is important for anyone working in medicine, but you have to decide whether you have it cut out for you to be in a position of leadership instead of being comfortable in dealing with just patient care.
If you believe you can provide more to your department alongside providing excellent patient care, then a career in leadership could be for you. Leading other nurses and overseeing their work as well as coordinating with upper management is not an easy job. Learning everything you need to know about the regulations in healthcare that the state is involved in, as well as training other nurses is a big job! Nursing leadership is just as important as leadership in higher jobs in the field, and nurses need a voice and direction just like everyone else. You should ask yourself about the conditions and salary of the role you are in and whether your dreams include expansion of these. A desire to lead has to be there, but the salary increase involved in the extra skills is also a desirable factor.
Being a good doctor or nurse means so much more than being good with patients and having good patient outcomes. Doctors and nurses provide leadership to those around them on a daily basis, and it’s this leadership skillset that should be expanded as much as possible. Being a formal leader in your medical department, whether this is at a hospital or in administration, means that you make yourself accountable to more than just yourself. There are a lot of courses and avenues you can take in your job to further your education and better yourself in practice, but of course there are those who choose to stay in their position, never wanting to move into management. The cons of leadership come with the fact that leadership often means more meetings, more paperwork and more red tape to combat compared to enjoying being with the patients and getting into medicine.
Preferring patient care and one to one interaction with patients is not necessarily a bad thing. The choice to go above and beyond and into leadership isn’t for everyone and those who get there often miss the simplicity of dealing just with patients. Being a front-runner in medicine takes a lot of consideration, and you should think carefully before making your choice.
