Authentic leadership at the Cleveland Clinic: psychological safety in the midst of crisis.

OBJECTIVES: The goal of this research was to examine the leadership experiences of senior leaders at the Cleveland Clinic during the recent COVID-19 pandemic crisis. A secondary goal was to examine lessons that could inform other healthcare organisations as they move into subsequent crisis situations. DESIGN: The authors examined publicly available podcast transcripts where interviewees shared their leadership experiences on the Cleveland Clinic Beyond Leadership Podcast. SETTING/PARTICIPANTS: Twenty-one publicly available qualitative transcripts were examined inductively and deductively to assess how authentic leadership principles were applied to the experiences noted. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Deductively, the four leadership behaviours of authentic leadership (ie, relational transparency, internalised moral perspectives, balanced processing of information and self-awareness) were noted in the transcripts. Inductively, the participants also identified the importance of developing an organisational culture rooted in psychological safety which allowed individuals from all levels of the organisation to voice their ideas, concerns and thoughts. As part of a psychologically safe culture, it was also important to understand the influence of hierarchy in healthcare, ways to encourage employee voice and the uniqueness of leadership during crisis. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS: We first offer insights about the importance of psychological safety, particularly during a crisis. Second, we offer a number of ways that other healthcare organisations might strive to build on their own approach to authentic leadership and develop an organisational culture built on psychological safety.

Pandemics and the Impact on Physician Mental Health: A Systematic Review.

Physician mental health is a major area of concern with physician burnout on the rise, while at the same time pandemics are becoming more frequent and serious in nature. This combination of physician burnout and pandemics has the potential for serious negative implications for physicians, patients, and health care organizations. Thus, we conduct a systematic review that examines the effect of pandemics on physician mental health using the burnout cascade as a framework. We identified 30 quantitative studies for inclusion. We find that Stages 4 and 5 of the burnout cascade are particularly troublesome with physicians experiencing high levels of anxiety and depression. Furthermore, we find in the degradation phase that physicians experience stigma which may intensify other negative effects. Physicians who are women, younger, and have less training are more susceptible to the negative effects of pandemics. We discuss overall implications and recommendations for future research.