Limitations
A standard systematic review approach was undertaken but the methodology was modified to meet the
rapid response timeframe, in particular the range of resources accessed was reduced. Our searches
focused on clinical leadership but during the review process it became clear that there is much broader
literature on leadership in general and on leadership in health, and a range of terminologies to capture the
concepts around clinical leadership that we did not use. A review of the reference lists in the included
documents suggests that there is much more available. The potential result of these limitations is that key
publications on clinical leadership were not identified.
Consequently the findings of this review should not be interpreted as a definitive answer instead viewed
as a collation of information provided by sources who have previously explored the concept of clinical
leadership.
These limitations should be taken into consideration when reading this report.
Discussion
No detailed analysis or synthesis of information from the retrieved publications was undertaken due to the
short timeframe for this review. However most of the documents included are themselves summaries of
the literature and present an overview; include models, frameworks and implementation strategies; or
make recommendations. In particular, there are several key Australian publications that can inform
decision-making related to clinical leadership at Southern Health.
There is general agreement across these publications about the personal qualities and attributes of
clinical leaders and the types of activities they should engage in. Many authors see clinical leadership as
an intrinsic component of health service governance, particularly clinical governance and quality and
safety domains. There are clear leadership roles outlined for each level of decision-makers (government,
board, executive management, program management and clinicians) with those above clinicians also
mandated to support clinical leadership.
It was not clear in the request how this review is to be used. If information is all that is required, there are
a number of papers from credible Australian agencies that can provide this. If Southern Health plans to
develop, implement and evaluate a clinical leadership framework, then a project officer can extract the
relevant information from the publications presented here and, in consultation with the relevant
stakeholders, create a framework and project plan. A more detailed and extensive search, appraisal and
synthesis of the literature could be undertaken, however it is unlikely to identify additional information that
will alter any decisions made by Southern Health with regard to clinical leadership.