Help wanted: developing clinician leaders

Because healthcare faces challenges, such as ensuring quality and access and controlling cost, effective leadership is needed at every level of healthcare organizations. Yet, physicians are trained in clinical and scientific skills but not in leadership competencies. Furthermore, clinicians often feel ill-prepared to assume managerial and leadership roles. To close this gap, training in leadership competencies, such as emotional intelligence, communication, teamwork, and change management, is urgently needed for physicians and clinicians of all disciplines. Leadership training should be multidisciplinary and should begin early in clinicians’ careers.