Why Bedside Leadership?
Undoubtedly, the bedside serves as the cornerstone of all healthcare professionals’ careers. It is not just a starting point, but a crucial foundation, especially for those directly involved in patient care.
It doesn’t matter whether you plan to continue at the bedside; it’s where you learn the foundational principles and philosophy of care.
And it’s at the bedside that we first learn basic leadership skills—how to lead ourselves, interact with patients and their relatives, and work with colleagues, supervisors, managers, and top leadership.
That’s where we develop the relationship skills that we will carry into our future careers as clinicians, researchers, academics, or political leaders— wherever we find ourselves as healthcare professionals.
Before we proceed, let me take a moment to clarify what bedside care entails (for both our readers who are not healthcare professionals and those who are just beginning their professional journeys).
Bedside refers to the patient’s bedside. Where we interact directly with patients. Not just patients, but also their relatives, colleagues, and other parties who are directly or indirectly involved in patient care.
The bedside doesn’t really have to be the side of the bed; it can be anywhere we have the opportunity to interact with patients/clients, relatives and other members of the multidisciplinary team.
At the bedside, the patient is the central figure. They are the primary focus of all our efforts and attention.
They are the focal point and the focus of all our attention.
While interacting with the patient, we will also engage with other professionals and individuals, including the patient’s relatives, colleagues, clinical and non-clinical staff, and administrative personnel.
The interaction and relationship we build with all these parties is what technically culminates in the term bedside. So, the bedside isn’t technically a location.
Your training as a healthcare professional is grossly incomplete without thorough bedside training. Your bedside exposure teaches you a lot.
In this article, I will focus on leadership at the bedside, exploring how we can lead ourselves, lead patients, and interact with others.
Most of what I will share comes directly from my personal experience at the bedside and some research.
Navigating The Bedside
You are faced with different kinds of people every time you are on duty, on a shift, or on call.
From patients, patient relatives, clients, colleagues—subordinates, supervisors, those you lead/instruct directly (like students) and a whole lot of other people who come to work with their different cultures, traditions and perspectives, and for you to be effective and productive, you must master how to interact with them.
And what’s leadership? It’s simply how you guide yourself and influence others towards a common goal or objective.
If you don’t learn how to master bedside leadership as a healthcare professional, I can assure you that your bedside journey will be very difficult and unproductive.
One reason most healthcare professionals are getting tired of bedside practice is a lack of bedside leadership skills.
Now, there are other obvious factors, but if you can understand how to apply bedside leadership skills, it will be much easier for you to navigate your way through the bedside, climb higher, and if it’s not somewhere you want to remain, you can easily and happily leave.
Here are six leadership skills you can master and apply to enjoy your bedside practice.
- Building A Solid Work Ethic
- Master Yourself
- Master Your Craft
- Know When To Look For Help
- Approach Everyone Like A Friend
- Be Willing To Offer Genuine Help
- Do The Right Thing At All Times
- Don’t Look Down On Anybody
Building A Solid Work Ethic
Work ethic is gradually eroding in our modern society. Most young people’s views of work are skewed.
They see work as just an activity they engage in to stave off hunger, keep food on their table, and maybe climb the career ladder.
When we view work this way, our dedication and commitment are very superficial, so we can’t really reap the rich benefits of true work.
We are all working. Whether you’re an entrepreneur, scholar, or someone who, by status in society or by inheritance, doesn’t really need to take up conventional employment.
Work is how we live and contribute to the building of society. Even if you clean the streets, your work contributes to the daily building and preservation of society.
Once we understand the philosophy of work, we will begin to approach it differently, with a mindset to build, help genuinely, and contribute as much as we can, no matter how small we feel it is.
You can enjoy your work, no matter how hard or boring you think it is.
You’re not enjoying it because of the mindset you bring to it.
Approach your work with the heart to really contribute your quota to society, help people, and above all, learn as you do so.
For young healthcare professionals, this is how you grow and mature as a professional, especially if you’re navigating the sometimes tedious paths of the bedside.
The bedside could, yes, be very hard, especially for those of us in developing countries where resources are stretched thin and many professionals in certain areas do not even see tangible futures in what they are doing; nevertheless, in all of these, you can build a very different reality for yourself in the midst of the chaos and uncertainty.
Where others approach their bedside responsibilities with lukewarmness and apathy, you, on the other hand, approach them with a unique mindset—to help, contribute, innovate and learn—to make a difference in the things you do, big or small.
People are naturally drawn to those with a positive mindset and an optimistic outlook on life. Cultivating such an attitude will not only make your work more enjoyable but also inspire those around you.
A solid work ethic will stand you out from the crowd and is one of those leadership skills that will make you thrive at the bedside.
Master Yourself
Know yourself. Do you know what you want from your practice? There are healthcare professionals who would do much better at the bedside.
They have natural skills and abilities that make them excellent bedside professionals.
Knowing who you are is one skill you must master.
Are you meant for the bedside? If yes, then what are you doing to grow in it? Learn related skills? Pursue advanced degrees or studies?
If you’re not meant for the bedside, that’s absolutely fine. While going through your bedside journey, open your heart to learn everything you can.
Your journey away from the traditional bedside may not be straightforward.
There will be highs and lows, bends and curves, delays and disappointments, but in everything, don’t lose sight of where you’re headed.
Keep developing the skills you need to reach your goal.
Master Your Craft
Strive to master your craft.
Don’t just settle, labour to know more and get better at what you do.
Viewing your profession as a healthcare professional as just a means to survive is a limited way of seeing yourself.
You can be more if you focus and master your craft. Are there bedside skills that you don’t know much about? Learn them, get a senior colleague to put you through.
This is how you grow at the bedside by mastering your craft and working hard to know all that you can in your field.
Mastery is an important element of leadership.
Leaders are individuals who understand the importance of mastering their craft.
They are always learning something new— never settling for less! And there’s always something new to learn. The master is someone who has reached a point in their journey where they realise they can’t know it all, so they keep working and learning every day, getting better.
Mastering your craft is how you can have a rewarding bedside journey. When people around you discover that you’re a master of your craft, they naturally respect you, and this kind of respect tends to ease the friction at the bedside.
Know When To Look For Help
Now, this is more practical.
There’s something very unique about bedside practice. There will always be situations where you will need the help of someone more experienced, someone better and more skilled.
We deal with human lives, so there’s no room at all for trial and error.
If you see something you don’t understand or are confused about, call for help.
Don’t guess, especially when it comes to delicate areas like medications and bedside procedures.
Knowing when to look for help is a leadership skill that will help you grow at the bedside and avoid a lot of trouble.
It’s not a weakness if you ask for help. It’s a sign of strength and responsibility, and at the bedside, there’s no shame at all if you ask for help.
When you’re about to start a treatment plan for a patient and you’re not sure about certain things, don’t assume and leave it to chance. Ask someone who knows and is willing to help you.
Many have found themselves in ugly situations because they refused to ask for help.
Approach Everyone Like A Friend
Nobody is your enemy. Not even the nasty patient, the troublesome colleague, or the angry supervisor.
Everybody is your friend. Approach everyone like a friend.
The bedside is not the place to keep malice or nurture grudges. If you’ve any issues with anybody, ensure you iron them out immediately and in the most professional way possible.
This is how we dilute friction in our bedside practice. We try to ensure we have excellent working relationships with those we work with.
Leaders don’t have enemies. Everyone is the leader’s friend. Why? Because we need everyone’s cooperation to make things work.
It’s not about pleasing everyone, but having a healthy relationship with the people you work with.
Be Willing To Offer Genuine Help
Be always ready and willing to help. When you see someone in a difficult situation, be the first to offer a helping hand. Leaders are always willing and ready to help.
You’ll always find people at work who need help. From students learning to colleagues and sometimes superiors. Be there for them.
You see, bedside leadership is simply about how we lead ourselves and how we are available to others.
At the bedside, there’ll always be many opportunities to help. When these opportunities present themselves to you, make good use of them, and by so doing, you’re creating a more conducive atmosphere for you to practice.
Do The Right Thing At All Times
As healthcare professionals, we have a sensitive role. We work closely with people who are often vulnerable and need help. And our actions and inaction can make a big difference in people’s lives.
There will be times when nobody will be there to monitor what you’re doing. You’ll be there alone with your conscience, and it rests on you to do the right thing.
Do it.
Do the right thing at all times.
Whether it’s convenient or not.
Just do it.
Leaders strive to do the right thing at all times, even in difficult situations.
This is how you grow as a healthcare professional at the bedside.
Don’t Look Down On Anybody
Respect and honour everybody you come across while carrying out your professional duties at the bedside.
Respect your patients/clients, respect their family and relatives and your colleagues.
You’re not greater than anyone there.
Everyone is working towards one goal: improving people’s lives.
We just have different roles and responsibilities, some greater and more visible, while others may not be as great or in the spotlight.
The moment you start looking down on people and feeling you’re more important than they are, you begin to lose some of your essence as a leader and can’t see the good others can bring to your life.
I’ve been helped by all kinds of people, and one reason they are willing to help me is that I approach them with genuine respect. They see it and are willing to offer as much help as they can.
It All Boils Down To Emotional Intelligence!
Everything we’ve discussed? It’s all about emotional intelligence in a nutshell.
Generally, people with a high emotional intelligence quotient do well in leadership and in life.
Human beings are bags of walking emotions.
We carry our “emotional emissions” everywhere we go. And it directly influences our perspective and how we respond to life, the people around us, and the situations we face.
Emotionally intelligent people understand that an emotional engine drives everyone, and they know that, to get the best out of every relationship, they must learn to handle other people’s emotions and, more importantly, their own.
Healthcare professionals, particularly those at the bedside, need a very high level of emotional intelligence because they constantly deal with people expressing a wide range of emotions.
Do you want your bedside journey to be smooth? Then start building emotional intelligence.
Final Thoughts
Leadership is a lifestyle.
We don’t learn it to apply once in a while; we become it so we can live like leaders every day and everywhere.
Healthcare professionals are among those who should exude leadership qualities more, as they work with a diverse range of people.
The bedside leadership skills we need to survive and thrive at the bedside revolve around common ethical and moral practices/principles:
- Respect.
- Honour.
- Being Considerate.
- Friendship.
- Dedication.
Standard principles that typically should guide people.
What will you do differently from today after reading this article?
Though I may have written to all healthcare professionals I have Africa’s healthcare professionals in mind because they are among those who’ve to work and lead in challenging situations especially those in understaffed and underequipped settings, from nurses, to doctors, med lab scientists, pharmacists, and porters and care assistants, security personnel, everyone who have found themselves trying to navigate systems that make things hard and almost make it impossible for anyone to even think about leadership.
You can deliberately create the right work atmosphere by consciously being the leader.
