MEDS2041: Leadership in Clinical Medicine

Healthcare professionals, such as physicians, are often leaders in academic health centers, hospitals, ambulatory environments, professional societies, and communities. They serve through attributes such as transparency and lead based upon a strategic vision and core values. This results in individuals and their organizations engaging in resilience, culture, and shared accomplishments in a transformational working environment.  The extensive journey of becoming a healthcare professional requires considerable time, effort, and dedication. They become experts in clinical sciences. However, a focus on leadership training has been limited in the undergraduate, graduate, and postgraduate settings for this field.

This class can greatly contribute to the development of future healthcare leaders in a way that is different from mastering biomedical sciences, such as biochemistry and physiology, and yet equally as important. This course is intended for any pre-med, pre-health, or other students, such as individuals with a business or organizational leadership course of study seeking future work in healthcare administration. The United States lacks the standard of healthcare outcomes seen in other first-world countries. One step in improving patient outcomes is producing better physicians, healthcare providers, and healthcare administrators. This course is a small step in that direction. With support coming from the College of Medicine, the Warren Bennis Leadership Institute, and the Organizational Leadership department, this cross-disciplinary opportunity will give a realistic view of healthcare in the real world. 

Leadership in Clinical Medicine is a course that will introduce students to the important role of leadership in today’s healthcare environment. It is designed for all students seeking future work in healthcare. This could range from pre-medicine majors seeking to become physicians to business-related majors looking to become healthcare administrators. This course combines elements of leadership in medicine from literature, in addition to principles from On Becoming A Leader, written by the 22nd president of the University of Cincinnati and pioneer of leadership, Warren Bennis. The class format will consist of lectures, discussions, exercises, and group work. An emphasis will be placed on translating classwork and principles directly into the student's life. The course is broken into three sections.