Leadership

This article proposes a comprehensive framework for assessing, reporting and improving the quality of work environments in healthcare organizations across Canada. Healthy work environments (HWEs) contribute to positive outcomes for healthcare employees and physicians. The same HWE ingredients also can reduce operating costs, improve human resources utilization and ultimately lead to higher-quality patient care. We show how health system employers, governments, quality agencies and other stakeholders can implement effective HWE metrics.

The face of the healthcare CEO has been changing over the past decade, during which we have seen the emergence of a new breed in upper management, the clinical executive. These are healthcare professions who have often held previous leadership positions, such as chief nursing officer or VP of medicine, and whose career path has seen them progress towards the top job in their organization.

In order to excel in management. these clinicians have had to develop broad skill sets that are not part of the traditional clinical curriculum.