A Pharmacist’s Leadership Journey.
I would like to express my eternal gratitude to Professor Elizabeth Robb and her team at the Florence Nightingale Foundation for the encouragement and support provided throughout the scholarship to which I was warmly welcomed. The Florence Nightingale Foundation and Burdett Trust for Nursing must certainly be acknowledged for sponsoring the scholarship, which, generously, can be accessed by other healthcare professionals.
Irene Gray has been a dedicated mentor throughout the scholarship. Her words of wisdom and advice will stay with me until the end of my career. A truly inspirational person with many accomplishments yet is equally kind and humble.
My previous Trust, the Royal United Hospital must be acknowledged for supporting my application and my manager, Regina Brophy for encouraging me to apply for the scholarship. Regina has a wealth of experience and enthusiasm for leadership, which is infectious.
I would like to express my appreciation for the help provided by Claire Fullbrook-Scanlon and her team of non-medical prescribers in their contribution to my patient improvement project.
A huge thank-you to Vicki Rutter for welcoming me in Singapore, providing accommodation, friendship and a great opportunity to share experiences. Equally, in Australia, to Ian Coombes and his excellent pharmacy team and contacts including Lynda Cardiff, Andy Hale, Daniella Stowasser, Susan Welch and Karen Whitfield for giving up their valuable time to share their knowledge and experience with me.
To the late Aidan Halligan who first recognised my leadership qualities and believed in me and had since provided leadership guidance during my scholarship. You will be greatly missed by many others and myself.
Background
The Florence Nightingale Foundation Scholarship has overseen an intense period of my career where it has been my guiding light. During this time, I have been deeply inspired and motivated to reach my full leadership potential, and I am extremely privileged to be the first pharmacist to whom it has been awarded. Overall, it has given me a renewed sense of confidence and self-belief. In addition, experiential and synergistic learning with my fellow Scholars has given me a fresh perspective, filled gaps in my knowledge and vastly broaden my horizons. In undertaking the scholarship, I have built upon my personal development skills, superseded my career leadership objectives and completed a patient care improvement project.
Personal Leadership Development
‘Leading Change through Organisation Renewal’ conference was the first opportunity to meet my fellow Scholars. Over the course of this three-day residential conference, we shaped our strategic thinking and applied it to complex real scenarios, which we had quickly become immersed in. These advanced leadership skills have since been underpinned and embedded in my personal development programme. The contact time allowed me to learn of the significant challenges that the senior nursing teams face and gave me a deeper understanding of the NHS outside pharmacy walls.
A plethora of psychometric assessments were undertaken prior to commencing the scholarship. These facilitated identifying my leadership training needs in addition to discussions with my mentor and Myers-Briggs assessor. A bespoke training programme was developed to meet these training needs, which included completion of the NHS Staff College’s three leadership modules. These modules focused on self-awareness, self-management and leading multiple teams. I built on a number of leadership strengths throughout these experiential modules including effective communication and motivational skills and strategic planning. The on going feed back was extremely positive as I progressed through the modules, which have enabled me to play to my leadership strengths.
Later in the year, I attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, which provided interactive communication skill workshops. This was a Foundation recommended course and hence another opportunity to meet some of my fellow Scholars. The course gave me practical effective advice on confidently communicating and voice coaching. My barely audible whispers rose to impressionable sounding words as I stretched my vocal cords. Throughout the exercise, it was wonderful to hear a participant who had not seen me since LCOR comment on how I had ‘blossomed’ as a leader.
During the various leadership development opportunities, I have gained confidence and have built upon my innate skills as an authentic leader. There has been a perfect balance of directed and self-directed training which has encouraged me to be bold and braver in seeking opportunities for collaboration.
Career Leadership Objectives
My initial objectives of the scholarship were to enhance my leadership skills to support the senior position I had recently been promoted to. I believe I was successful in this as I effectively led on a number of Trust wide projects, some of which involved interfacing extensively with secondary care. I have since moved to a larger organisation and I firmly believe that the skills acquired through the scholarship were integral in my successful appointment. There is now a new array of challenges that lie ahead of me in this role, however, I am confident that I have been equipped with the right leadership skill set to tackle them.
Throughout the scholarship, I have linked in with my professional body to share my leadership learning experiences on a national level and I hope that this will encourage other pharmacists to seek similar opportunities to augment their career.
Patient Care Improvement Project
As a Non-Medical Prescriber, I have a passion for the opportunities that this practice can contribute to improving the quality of patient care and access to treatment. The audit I conducted demonstrated that the practice of the NMPs at my previous Trust improves patient care in terms of Quality, Innovation, Productivity and Patient Safety (QIPP) and patient experience.
My overseas component of the scholarship involved visiting Australia where I was able to observe various healthcare professionals practice and research in NMP. This greatly informed my improvement project, and simultaneously allowed me to explore other healthcare systems where strong leadership and culture are key components of the national patient safety agenda. In addition, I have created a network of contacts to share research and to collaborate on future quality improvement project opportunities.
Conclusion and Reflection
This report outlines the pivotal ‘leadership moments’ of my scholarship journey. It has been extremely rewarding and enjoyable experience and as with any journey, there have been various trials and tribulations along the way. However, I have overcome these challenges by exercising my leadership muscles. I have developed both personally and professionally in terms of my confidence and career. Being awarded the scholarship is analogous to being given a set of wings for which to fly.