Developing Doctors as Leaders in Healthcare

The Management in Medicine programme has been established by the Fellows of Green Templeton College to help trainee doctors develop their management and leadership skills. The involvement of doctors in healthcare leadership and management continues to develop momentum. There is increasing recognition that it is vital to the improvement of health services and there is a growing body of published evidence to show that, at least in an acute setting, the quality of healthcare delivery improves when clinicians become involved in the leadership of services.

Giving doctors leadership and management training and experience is integral to the success of this strategy. Although most doctors do not want to become full-time managers, many will become involved in some aspect of leadership and management as part of their clinical work. This might be in managing a clinical research programme, being a partner in a general practice, getting the best out of a multi-disciplinary team of professionals, or helping to design a new service.

The Management in Medicine Programme is being developed in response to interest expressed by clinical students, medically qualified research students and medical alumni, as well as trainee doctors (particularly Academic Clinical Fellows) in the Oxford Deanery. The initiative draws on the deep tradition in medicine, health and the social sciences within the College, allied with its strength in business and managment.