Medical Leadership in a Pandemic
Many books will be written about people’s experiences and learning on this topic so what can I capture for you in 500 words about my own reflections and learning? These are a few works of “advice to self” that are as applicable to leading in any role at any time, I hope.
BE CLEAR
No matter the extent of the impact of Covid-19 onto an individual specialty or organisation, many of us will have grappled with the same challenges and frustrations. The first point of reflection for me is that in any sort of crisis, people like clear communication and instructions but the initially unknown nature of the SARS CoV2 virus and the disease it caused made providing these difficult. The pace at which knowledge developed was extraordinary and a great credit to our scientific community but did result in rapid updates to policies and procedures. This was most evident around PPE and resulted in a lot of confusion and anxiety. We experienced questions and challenge from staff, many of whom were drawing advice from specialty associations with little or no infection prevention and control input. We resolved to regard the national IPC advice as the primary source and to explain that we were following that.
BE KIND
Behaviours in the workplace often reflected fear for loved ones and worry about circumstances outside work so helping leaders in the organisation remember that, when they themselves are under similar pressure themselves has been important, just as much in the dark months of January and February 2021 as back in March and April 2020.
ADJUST YOUR PACE
The reversal of the usual order within medicine of evidence based practice which reaches the general public and the media through wide rehearsal in professional circles involving debate, challenge and the peer review process, has resulted in muddled messages which take time to unscramble and a feeling for medical leaders of being on the back foot sometimes. Even discussion over a day or two with those who would have operational responsibility for implementation in a variety of circumstances would be time well spent. But how to say that when everyone is working at pace? Just as we have learnt that “good enough” is good enough when it comes to papers and documents, so “fast enough” is worth remembering. All those old maxims and fables have lasted for millennia in a multitude of cultures for good reason!
CHECK YOUR STYLE
Part of making sure an organisation can deal with the next challenge is always to be at least one step ahead in the planning process- but this can mean that one’s own thinking is in a different place to others. The increased screen-based communication and reduced face to face contact can make that harder to pick up on. Add in a feeling of pressure and our own natural variation in our approach to risk and there is a ready built opportunity for misunderstanding and feeling that concerns have not been heard. Use trusted colleagues to check your own tone and style and be quick to acknowledge if you’ve got it wrong- it will happen to all of us.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Tracey Gillies is the Executive Medical Director in NHS Lothian, she took up post in 2017 and previously held a similar post in NSH Forth Valley. Tracey attended University of Bristol medical school and completed her basic surgical training there before moving to Edinburgh in 1994. She was appointed as a Consultant General Surgeon in 2004 and began to develop an interest in medical management and leadership shortly after this.
Twitter: @tegedinburgh
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