Abstract | Leadership has risen to a prominent position in healthcare policy and professional practice, as illustrated by the above extract from Modernising Nursing Careers (DH, 2006: 3). The leadership and managerial environment in which nurses and healthcare professionals work is changing; it is changing all the time and it is changing quickly. Practice nurses therefore face many new challenges that will call for new ways of thinking about leading and advancing practice. The focus of this chapter is primarily geared towards practitioners who lead teams and services, although the theoretical perspectives and approaches introduced clearly also have a wider application. The overall aim is to promote a critical approach to leadership, policy, organisational decision making and practice. This is a wide-ranging remit, as these are all huge topics, informed by theoretical perspectives that include psychology, sociology, political science and economics. |
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