Leadership in Healthcare
Leadership, in any form or at any stage, necessitates dedication and commitment to achieving defined goals and objectives. As a leader, I've frequently taken the initiative to lead by example and positive impact, as shown by my behavior. Given the delicate nature of healthcare operations, it is wise to ensure that any action taken meets expected expectations in order to avoid adverse outcomes.
The Importance of Healthcare Management
In order to ensure that health care programs are correctly delivered, healthcare management is essential. As a member of my school's National Society of Leadership and Success, I am aware of the importance of leaders, especially managers, in the health-care industry. As a result, it is my ambition to acquire and utilize specialized knowledge in the management and leadership (Carter & Greer, 2013). As a leader, it becomes possible to meet other professionals and experts in various fields in healthcare. My objective is to continue my personal and professional growth and prepare for a management career in a health care setting while improving my overall leadership skills.
Acquiring Professional and Academic Qualifications
The acquisition of professional and academic qualifications, especially graduating with high honors, will place me at a competitive position to realize my goals. I have the qualities that are critical for effective management; I have good communication skills, am a people person, self-motivated, and a team player. These are critical attributes that facilitate cordial interaction between medical and nursing staff while ensuring that health care issues are managed accordingly.
Motivation for Becoming a Successful Leader
The reason I aspire to become a successful leader is motivated by my desire to influence change in health care delivery dynamics in modern settings. In addition, management is crucial in decision making, especially in the increasingly volatile healthcare industry that has seen significant changes in policy and practice. New health care delivery methods continue to be developed while policies governing healthcare insurance, ethics, and work dynamics adapt to economic, social, and environmental factors that influence the quality of healthcare. Furthermore, leadership and management skills are not merely profession oriented but have the potential to influence my personal life through increased efficiencies in making personal decisions such as time management, and life choices.
Developing Leadership Skills
My leadership skills have continued to develop as a result of attending a management program that offers flexibility, as numerous higher education institutions offer online programs that do not require physical attendance to classes. This makes it easy to access course materials in the event that it is not possible to be in a physical class setting. In addition, balancing work, family, and school can be challenging, hence making leadership skills ideal for both professional and personal reasons. I have participated in various clubs and societies in a leadership and membership capacity. I work part-time at a hospital as an imaging service representative and also as a part-time assistant at an assisted living home. It is through working in healthcare that I came to realize that I can make a difference in people's lives. Caring for people and helping those in need lead healthy lives is both satisfying and also contributes towards the perpetuation of a healthy society.
The National Society of Leadership and Success
My leadership skills are exemplified in my membership to the National Society of Leadership and Success. This Society is an organization that helps people discover and achieve their goals. We communicate with our peers to help them find different strategies and develop a plan to achieve their goals and dreams. This can be challenging because some of my peers started off with low self-confidence and did not believe that they can change or achieve their goals. I am also part of the Exercise and Health Science Club which provides significant information via seminars, workshops, lectures, meetings, and by contacting EHS, students and faculty with questions can obtain the needed answers.
Diversity in Healthcare
I enjoy working with all kinds of ethnicities and cultures. Healthcare workers are exposed to diverse ethnicities and cultures, which makes working in healthcare a continuation of the learning experience. This is because something new is learned every day, especially through interaction with researchers, technology experts, or medical scientists, among others; hence, my motivation to pursue management in healthcare as a career.
Assisting the Elderly in the Community
During my part-time work at an assisted living home, I realized that there are many needy people, especially the elderly, who need professional assistance. However, most of these people do not have the resources needed to pay for assisted living and as such, they live alone struggling to survive on a day-to-day basis. Since these needy people live in my community, I organized and led a volunteer group comprising of students with the aim of providing assistance and support to the elderly in the community.
Students participate through helping such individuals in the community to perform various tasks and accompany them. Since a significant number of elderly people have retired from their occupations, they may be incapacitated to the extent that they are unable to perform critical tasks that are necessary for their survival.
Most of the elderly people that I interacted with in the community were afraid that they will die or suffer illness without anyone knowing, especially since their family members were living far away or they did not have any family members left (Schulz, 2006). As a leader, I identified the elderly as being lonely and in need of assistance in performing various tasks.
Alleviating Loneliness in Older People
Having worked with the elderly, I recognized that the identification of symptoms and consequences of loneliness in older people is essential for the prevention of health and well-being concerns that may arise. The inclusion of social workers is instrumental in alleviating the prevalence of loneliness in older people (Golden et al., 2009). Since a higher percentage of loneliness in older people is attributable to lack of family support, social workers have the capacity to provide alternatives. These include the provision and facilitation of social and lunch clubs, community centers, befriending, and transport with the aim of alleviating loneliness in older people.
The Impact of the Volunteer Group
As a group, we recognized that it is prudent to keep the elderly reassured, especially to prevent the deterioration of health. However, the group's input in helping the elderly was limited to offering them basic services such as cleaning, taking them for a walk, assisting them in taking their medication, and keeping them company. However, the volunteer group gained the support of the institution and community; hence, we were able to offer assistance to a fairly large number of elderly people in the community. The volunteer project helps the community by taking care of the elderly and helps colleges as part of social responsibility programs that paint the institution in a positive light.
References
Carter, S. M., & Greer, C. R. (2013). Strategic leadership values, styles, and organizational performance. Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies, 20(4), 375-393.
Golden, J., Conroy, R. M., Bruce, I., Denihan, A., Greene, E., Kirby, M. … Lawlor, B. (2009). Loneliness, social support networks, mood and wellbeing in community-dwelling elderly. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 24, 694-700.
Schulz, R. (Ed.). (2006). The Encyclopedia of aging: A comprehensive resource in gerontology and geriatrics. New York, NY: Springer Publishing Company.
