Browsing by keyword "RADx Clinical Studies Core team and Test Us At Home Investigators"
Now showing items 1-4 of 4
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Leading Through a Crisis: The Application of Servant Leadership During COVID-19In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Lamar Soutter Library was faced with moving off campus and into a remote work environment. As the crisis unfolded, it was critical for staff to experience a unified leadership team that was dedicated to their well-being, empathetic to the unprecedented situation, and committed to providing exceptional service. At that time, library leaders made a conscious decision to apply the principles of servant leadership as the framework for how, as a team, the library would see its way through the pandemic. What follows is a case study in the application of servant leadership in an academic health sciences library during the COVID-19 crisis.
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Making explicit the development of PhD-prepared nurses to steward the disciplineLeadership is a core curricular element of PhD programs in nursing. Our PhD faculty began a dialogue about being a leader, a steward of the discipline. We asked ourselves: (a) What expertise do PhD prepared nurse needs to begin to steward the discipline? (b) How do faculty engage PhD nursing students to assume responsibility for stewarding the discipline? Lastly, (c) How do we work with PhD nursing students to create their vision for how their work contributes to stewarding the discipline, from doctoral coursework throughout their career? We support the need for PhD graduates to have the skills to generate knowledge, conserve that which is important, and transform by disseminating new knowledge to a broad audience. Examples of nurses stewarding the discipline when pioneering research, critiquing traditional approaches to inquiry or trends in nursing practice, and developing policy, are highlighted along with examples of how PhD nursing students begin to steward the discipline.
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The Identification of Staff Nurses as Organizational Champions: A DissertationThe characteristics of nurses acting as organizational champions, as well as the ways that clinical leaders systematically harness the energy of these champions in support of innovation, were explored in this qualitative descriptive study. The specific aims were guided by prior empirical evidence and identified research needs. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 14 formal nursing leaders (e.g. managers, educators, administration) in an academic medical center. This study, including the interview guide, was informed by Kouzes and Posner’s (2007) Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership. Two models were developed to describe the data. Overall, participants echoed prior empirical findings identifying a need for organizational champions’ support of innovation and explained how some nurses seem to have “innate” characteristics that make them champions. Participants identified the champion as the “go to” person who can see the bigger picture and who seems to “own their own practice”. They described the importance of being truly present on the unit in order to harness the energy of these champions. Once champions are identified, leaders match the champions’ talents to the innovation planned, secure buy in from the champions, and actively work to support champions and get a culture of innovation “in the drinking water.” This work enhances the leader’s experience and makes him/her feel inspired and engaged. The two models developed based on the participants’ description of their experience working with staff nurses acting as organizational champions provide a framework for clinical leaders to identify and engage organizational champions in their clinical areas in support of innovation.
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Thinking Like A Scientist ... And An Engineer: Training future leaders and innovators in health care systems and deliveryHealth care is increasingly becoming more complex with the advancement of accountable organizations, expansion of hospital systems, and major insurance and government reforms. As leaders of care teams, physicians are often expected to have a hybrid set of skills extending beyond clinical expertise. Examples of leadership knowledge and skill sets include organizational thinking, health quality improvement, health policy, financial literacy, health innovation, and many more. The number of MD/MBA programs has risen significantly since the 1990s and more recently, leadership pipelines for both medical residents and students have also emerged. These trends support a rising demand for well-rounded physician leaders. This project sets out to answer two questions: will a health care leadership program add value to undergraduate medical training for University of Massachusetts medical students? If so, what would such a leadership program look like? We used the Lean management framework and “A3” Plan Do Study Analyze cycle (PDSA) to identify the challenges and appropriateness of developing a leadership program, and then to highlight ideas for promoting leadership. Key components of the framework include a root cause analysis and development of counter measures. As a platform for analysis, we examined the experiences of the “Quality Improvement Health Care Elective,” a student led series of lectures on health care process, Lean management, and health care leadership. We tested our counter measures as well as other ideas in a student opinion survey that focused on level of interest in leadership, career aspirations, desired deliverables, and the option of a training certificate. An estimated 20% of the student population at UMass Medical School completed our survey (n=125). Our study discovered strong interest in the topic of leadership, with 20% of students stating they are very likely to take an elective on leadership, and 54% somewhat likely. Students were especially interested in career aspirations that included management and administration responsibilities, general career exploration, and opportunities for mentorship. These findings can be core features of developing a health care leadership option for medical students at UMass Medical School.
