Role of Healthcare Leaders in the Digitalization of Health System: A Review

Abstract

Digitalization of health system is defined as adaption of digital technology in health care service to offer high quality patient care. WHO has directed to implement digital system to health care service in order to achieve sustainable development goals. However, digitalization of health care system is lagging behind compared to other business environment due to poor leadership skills of the health care leaders. The objective of this review is to identify the roles and attributes of the health care leaders in order to perform in digital world. Best 30 articles were referred from the 80 articles related to digitalization of health care and leadership to write this review. Leaders need to come out of their comfort zone and understand the rapidly changing business field with the digitalization. Healthcare leaders are advised to go beyond their traditional leadership style and develop new leadership skills. The transformational leadership theory was identified as the starting point for ‘new-genre leadership’ models emphasizing that a leader’s style should be visionary, ideological, and participative, servant, or authentic where digital leader needs to perform. Leader-member exchange theory focuses on the nature and quality of the relationship between leaders and their team members which is the ideal for implementation of the digital health. Therefore, digital leader need to be flexible and adaptable to new ideas, intellectual curiosity, having transformative vision, forward-looking perspective, change-oriented, open minded, adaptable, innovative and a hunger for new knowledge. They need to be maintained a more egalitarian and results-oriented approach unlike previous traditional leaders. In addition, healthcare leaders need to developed better skills to manage finances, understanding of project management timeline and alternative options before digitalization of the health system. Digital leaders need to developed attributes such as the ability to influence, inspiring a shared vision, being proactive, and ability to avoid blaming others, being visionary and being innovative. They need to develop their analytics capability of the health care leaders are essential to ensure effective professional leadership. Delegation of work and effective communication are very important attributes a leader should perform when dealing with the digital health. To effective digitalization of health system to improve patient care service health care, leaders need to develop new leadership skills.