Leadership and administrative support for interprofessional collaboration in a cancer center

Abstract

PurposeThe interprofessional collaboration is a key practice for providing cancer care. However, the realization of collaboration requires effective leadership and administrative support. In this study, the aim was to analyze healthcare professionals' perceptions of leadership and administrative support (strategic and management) in interprofessional collaboration for developing practices in cancer care.Design/methodology/approachA descriptive survey design was used to collect data from healthcare professionals (n = 350, response rate 33.3%), including nurses, physicians and other professionals participating in patient care in one Finnish cancer center (out of five) in 05/2018–10/2018. The data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The instrument focused on leadership in the work unit and administrative support including organization strategy and organizational management.FindingsHealthcare professionals perceived leadership in the work unit, organization strategy and management for the support of interprofessional collaboration as weak. However, the ratings of male respondents and those in leading positions were more positive. The findings indicate that healthcare professionals in the cancer care setting are dissatisfied with the leadership and administrative support.Research limitations/implicationsInterprofessional collaboration, including its leadership, requires systematic and constant evaluation and development.Originality/valueHealthcare leaders in the cancer care setting can use the results to identify factors that might be in need of attention and development in the field of interprofessional collaboration.

Interprofessional collaboration in the breast cancer unit: how do healthcare workers see it?

“…Legality is required as a supporting document to promote interprofessional collaboration activities in health care institutions [ 40 ]. Professional responsibility is one of the components of collaborative practice that contribute to the formation of an interprofessional team dedicated to achieving common goals in order to enhance patient outcomes [ 33 , 41 ].…”

Leadership, Leading, and Influencing Change in Cancer Education: Development and Assessment of a Pilot Leadership Workshop in Cancer Education for Interdisciplinary Healthcare Staff

“…It is no longer tenable for clinicians to avoid recognizing the value of developing leadership skills. In cancer care especially, healthcare professionals require leadership skills to optimize the workflow of interdisciplinary teams for the benefit of patients [ 24 ]. Facilitating leadership development in cancer care will also enable better patient engagement, as the patient’s illness and recovery experiences can be used to guide necessary organizational changes that improve patient satisfaction and quality of care delivered.…”

Responsible leadership and turnover intentions in health-care professionals: the mediating role of burnout

“…To test the four hypotheses, we collected data through an online self-completed questionnaire (Lin et al , 2020; Cheng et al , 2016) which was designed to target health-care workers who were currently working in Portugal. For the non-probability sample, snowball and convenience sampling was used, following previous studies on health care (Moilanen et al , 2020), as snowball sampling takes advantage of reliable interpersonal relationships and is an effective method for encouraging the participation of health-care workers (Sheu et al , 2009). Appropriate ethics approval was received, and the questionnaire was pre-tested with five individuals from the health-care sector, to ensure the correct understanding and clarity of the questions.…”

“…Leadership has already been considered to be essential for many aspects, such as interpersonal collaboration (Moilanen et al, 2020), and it has also been associated with physician turnover intentions (Aarons et al, 2020). The type of leadership can be considered to be an internal factor that is capable of reducing turnover intentions (Griffeth et al, 2000;Porter and Steers, 1973).…”

“…The lack of studies relating responsible leadership to burnout and to turnover intentions in health-care professions is problematic for those organizations that face economic and technological challenges that demand high-quality leadership to respond to changes in national health systems (Dickson, 2009). The literature has already identified leadership as being essential for collaboration (Moilanen et al , 2020) and as a means to reduce burnout, nevertheless it is not clear why some leadership approaches are more effective than others in reducing burnout (Kelly and Hearld, 2020).…”