Laguilles, Elaine May O.

MPA 205
16 March 2019
#3
Emergencies are unexpected. They are usually dangerous situations that require immediate
attention and efficient action. Having to take charge in an emergency situation can be one of the
biggest tests of an individual’s leadership skills. Everything is under extreme pressure. As a
physician, one bad decision can cost a life or significantly impact more people. However, as a
physician, one also has the potential to save lives and mitigate a disaster once you employ your
good leadership skills.
“While medicine focuses on decision making at the individual physician–patient level,
leadership involves stepping back and examining problems at a higher level thus requiring the
ability to view issues broadly and systemically,” says Collins-Nakai in his 2006 article in McGill
J Med. Leadership is a process for an individual to lead, influence, and engage a team towards a
certain goal. To do this, this leader must begin to understand that a lot of factors are at play even
in a single situation. Being in the field of healthcare also requires excellent leadership and
management skills.
Should I be a medical doctor pressed in an emergency situation, I would recognize that
high-quality healthcare depend on excellent collaboration and interdisciplinary work among my
colleagues. As a physician-leader, it would require me to understand the systems at work in the
institution that I am working in so as I could strategically optimize their performance for my
patients.
Leadership means handling the “chaos” an emergency brings. As a physician-leader, I have
to remain calm and collected under pressure. By maintaining this composure, I infect others with
the same deposition while still being able to address the needs of my patients. I shall add structure
to that “chaos” instead of adding more distraction.
Leadership behavior that would enable me and my team accomplish results (that is, to save
lives). Aside from the basic principles of leadership, an emergency would require me to be more
organized and practice prompt recognition of needs. I would rapidly analyze what is needed, assess
where and what sort of help must be provided, and communicate effectively among my staff. I
would need to make informed, rational decisions rapidly for lives are at stake. I would continue to
adapt to the “chaos” to make sure we provide optimal care.
I would also encourage the use of various communication channels and foster for more
collaboration not just within my institution but to other pertinent agencies as well. For instance, if
there was a massive vehicular accident, the hospital I work with may not be able to absorb all of
the patients. That means we would have to work with other designated receiving hospitals,
neighboring health facilities, first aiders, police, and other rescue services to ensure a more
structured response.
 One of the most important things as a leader is to be able to continuously strengthen the
motivation and endurance of her team before and most especially during the crisis. As a leader of
my medical team, I would learn to identify the needs and worries of my members to ensure they
are at their best for the task. In order to maintain order, I would enforce my team to operate on an
organized schedule. Knowing that saving lives can be mentally daunting, I would set periods of
rest and force my staff to recharge every now and then.
As of now, those are among the few things I believe I would do should I be given the task
of being a physician-in-charge during an emergency. As I also believe the best education is through
experience, I would say that this shall be a learning process. I would be able to learn more on how
to act as a leader during crisis when I start serving in one of the teams in an emergency.

References:
Collins-Nakai R. Leadership in medicine. Mcgill J Med. 2006;9(1):68–73.