Leadership and Challenges Facing Leaders in Health Care - Essay Example

Leadership and Challenges Facing Leaders in Health Care Student’s Name Institutional Affiliation Table of Contents Introduction 3 Challenges Facing HCL in Disability and Aged Care Sectors 3 Disability Sector 3 Aged Care Sector 5 Leadership Approach to Decision Making 7 Team-Centered Decision Making 7 Leader-Centered Decision-Making (LCDM) 8 Decision Making in the Healthcare Team 10 Addressing the Challenges 11 Conclusion 12 References 13 Leadership and Challenges facing leaders in Health Care Introduction The aged individuals and the disabled members of a society are faced with health challenges that may require special attention to meet most of their health needs. A number of such individuals are in designated facilities such as the residential aged care facilities for the elderly individuals. In such facilities, the special needs brought about by the normal physiological changes associated with ageing such as poor hearing ability, poor vision, memory loss and altered intrinsic metabolism, make such individuals to possess altered response to health services that would be normally administered to a young adult patient (Kaufman, 2013). Individuals with disability experience difficulties overcoming or coping with practical or emotional limitations unless they are taught and gain experience in tackling possible obstacles (Murugami, 2009). Therefore, health care leaders (HCL) handling such individuals may encounter unique challenges that may not be common when working with other individuals seeking medical services. This paper shall examine some of the problems facing these HCL in their decision-making, including a discussion of team and leader-centered forms of making decisions, and how such challenges can be addressed. Challenges Facing HCL in Disability and Aged Care Sectors Disability Sector Just like aged individuals may experience difficulties interacting with parameters in their environment, so do individuals with a disability. The World Health Organization (WHO) (2014) estimates that over one billion people in the world that forms a 5% of the population in the world experience some disability. It is also estimated that difficulty in functioning is common in about 110 to 190 million adults in the world (WHO, 2014). With the increasing worldwide chronic health condition and ageing among the population, rates of disability are also increasing (WHO, 2014). There is, therefore, an association between people with disability and ageing compounding the challenges facing leaders working with such groups of persons. Some persons with disabilities (PWD) are at a disadvantage in that studies show that some are at a greater risk of healthcare deficiencies depending on the group or setting (WHO, 2014; Grut, Mji, Braathen & Ingstad, 2012). PWD have been documented to seek more health care related services and also, their unmet needs are far greater than those of individuals without disabilities (WHO, 2014; Lang, 2011). This is attributed to the fact that health care needs promoted by HCL have rarely targeted disabled people . For instance, compared to women without disabilities, women with disabilities receive less screening for cervical and breast cancers (WHO, 2014). Media campaigns used by HCL informing individuals with disabilities of health awareness are not usually comprehensive enough to reach all PSW including those with learning disabilities (Alborz, McNally & Glendinning, 2005). Alborz et al., (2005) argue that due to their intellectual impairment standard media communication of awareness events are not comprehended by people with learning disabilities. Nevertheless, such individuals, especially those with mild disability who can sustain their levels without the aid of a carer, may refuse seeking health promotional activities they are aware of due to the stigma that might be associated with their disability (Alborz, McNally & Glendinning, 2005). For this reason, HCL may not reach as many PWD as may be necessary. The percentage of PWD who cannot afford health care is higher compared to that of non-disabled individuals in most countries (WHO, 2014). This is because most PWD have lesser chances of been successful and economically stable in their lives as was demonstrated by Gudlavalleti et al. (2014). Due TO poor economic status, such individuals may be unable to access basic health care and supportive services even if such services are free but located at a distance. Similarly, it is expensive for HCL to support such people comprehensives in most societies experiencing rising cost of living compounded by recent global financial crisis (GFC) (Kearney, 2009). For example, in Australia the government reacted to the GFC by cutting down expenditure on health especially on private and Medicare insurance (Van Gool, 2009). This limits the expansion of the budget catering for PWD so that less economically endowed individuals may be supported. Aged Care Sector Kearney (2009) argues that the Australian government has been underfunding health services such as the aged care hindering provision of efficient and affordable services. Technical equipment are been given priority over human resource required to run ACF (Nordam, Torjuul & Sorlie, 2005). Poorer wages paid to nurses working in aged care facilities ACF compared to those working in other health sector has made the aged care to be less attractive to nurses who, nevertheless, play a significant role (Kearney, 2009). This also demotivates nurse leaders working in ACF that may consequently affect their productivity (Wray, 2013). The aged population is also increasingly seeking more complex nursing home services due to higher levels of cognitive and physical disabilities been experienced by these older people (Wowchuk, McClement & Bond, 2006). This requires that qualified professional nursing services be employed to meet palliative, aged care or end-of-life care needs of these patients. For instance, in my brief encounter at a residential ACF, RN were tasked with using their clinical judgment to assess the appropriateness of administering or withholding medicines while considering a resident’s medical, family history and other co-morbidities (ANMF, 2013). To make the best decisions related to a resident, professional competency is a requirement. Hence, with an exodus of nurses from ACF to other sectors, efficient service provision at these facilities may be hindered. There is a negative attitude associated with older people in the society that is attributed to their dependency and frailty. Older people with dementia bare the most pronounced negative attitude (Nordam, Torjuul & Sorlie, 2005). This negative attitude is linked to some HCL in non-specialized health care facilities not been familiar with the needs and shortcomings of elder people with dementia such as not been able to respond to instructions as precisely told (Nordam, Torjuul & Sorlie, 2005). Additionally, these individuals are labeled uninteresting as they are not easy to interact with, and neither are they considered very useful in researches by university hospitals. Professional disagreements are challenging to HCL too. For instance, decisions made regarding treatment and non-treatment are sometimes not adhered to fully. Nordam, Torjuul & Sorlie (2005) noted that patients upon whom decisions have been made to stop treatment continue been treated for some diagnoses and symptoms while some are not treated. A dearth of good communication between cadres attending to older patients is often a source of disagreement that trickles down to poor communication and service provision to patients. Unavailability of physicians in the wards also hinders provision of timely advice where necessary (Nordam, Torjuul & Sorlie, 2005). Emotional strain is also another challenge facing HCL attending to the health demands of older individuals. Due to the increasing number of older persons requiring medical care, workload for HCL attending to these individuals has increased un proportionately compared to an equivalent increase in health care workers resulting in a deficit of the latter (Nordam, Torjuul & Sorlie, 2005). This has expanded the workload of HCL affecting the quality of services provided to aged individuals. The workload stress and the disagreements among HCL leaders in different professions all contribute to burnout among some HCL (Nordam, Torjuul, Sorlie, 2005). Leadership Approach to Decision Making Team-Centered Decision Making Team Centered Decision making (TCDM) is a form of strategy employed in making decisions where individual team members are accorded an opportunity to contribute towards making decisions. For instance, in ACF, nurses work together with other health care personnel in RACFs mainly pharmacists, medical practitioners, dentists, nursing practitioners, enrolled nurses (ENs), assistants in nursing, endorsed enrolled nurses (EENs), the residents themselves and their family members in administering care (ANMF, 2013). The most common TCDM style employed is through collaboration as it allows all team members to be satisfied with decisions made (Almost, 2014). Collaboration in decision making among team members entails members communicating and working effectively with the aim of achieving a common result that satisfies the welfare, needs and interest of team members, be it the HCL or professional, PWD or aged individuals (Beckett & Kipnis, 2009). The two authors, Beckett & Kipnis (2009), through their study, demonstrated that provision of health care services through collaboration among various members of the team has a positive important impact on patient satisfaction, staff satisfaction in addition to enhancing the safety and outcome of the patient. Appropriate and comprehensive communication is paramount in TCDM. In a study by Katon et al. (2010), the importance of interprofessional and intra-professional collaboration on the outcome of chronically ill and depressed patient was assessed. It "was a single-blind, randomized controlled trial" that enrolled 214 study participants (Katon et al.., 2010, p. 2614). The participants were given different kinds of care by different health care professionals with occasional overlap. The outcome of the study suggested that conflicts regarding decision-making where a variety of members are involved in the provision of a comprehensive care to patients were better handled via collaboration among team members. Collaboration among nurses and between them and other health care providers led to a statistically significant (P Read More