Communication and effective leadership in healthcare

Abstract

Communication and effective leadership are of utmost importance in any organization, especially in healthcare section. The aim of this Master’s dissertation was to explore Communication and Effective Leadership in Healthcare, especially when a new healthcare system such as GESY is implemented. This was achieved by following these research questions: • Why communication and effective leadership are important in healthcare? • What challenges hospital faced during GESY implementation? • How COVID-19 affected GESY implementation and operation? • What actions leaders performed during GESY implementation? • In which extent healthcare employees are satisfied with their leaders’ actions and decisions during GESY implementation? The study was conducted with healthcare professionals, nurses, doctors and other staff members of the Apollonion Private Hospital with GESY scheme. The study aimed to learn the importance and the impact of leadership and communication in healthcare, identify and highlight areas where the hospital was lacking regarding those aspects during GESY implementation and changes were suggested in order to improve both hospital’s actions and GESY system. The influence of COVID-19 pandemic during GESY operation was also examined. A literature review on the communication and leadership in healthcare, GESY implementation, GESY challenges and leaders’ actions during GESY was performed. Following the review, research method of the study was identified. The method was a quantitative research using questionnaire. Survey participants completed a 3-pages self-completion questionnaire that included closed-ended questions for demographics information and questions with a rating scale from strongly disagree to strongly agree regarding research questions. 110 questionnaires were collected, however only 106 were considered completed. Data were collected and analyzed. Results of the study showed how important and vital are the effective leadership and communication in healthcare, especially when a new health system is implemented during COVID-19 pandemic. Findings of the study showed that GESY has caused some significant difficulties that influenced hospital operation and that COVID-19 had affected both hospital and GESY system in many ways. Also, it was identified that hospital as well as GESY were lacking in some aspects regarding leadership and communication. Hence, some suggestions for improvements were made.