Introduction: Leadership is a key trait essential to the practice of neurosurgery. However, systematic efforts to assess and guide leadership development in neurosurgery for faculty and residents have generally been limited. At many recent neurosurgical meetings, we have been challenged as a profession by external leaders (Bill George at the SNS, Michael Ensley at the CNS) to engage in preparing ourselves and our trainees in the skills they need to lead those around us. In addition, there are nationwide calls for improving the skills of healthcare professionals in leading change, most notably from the IHI. There are also many leadership related objectives included in the ACGME Milestones
Methods: Over the past 3 years, the Department of Neurosurgery at the University of Minnesota has undergone a concerted effort to assess and develop our faculty and residents’ leadership skills. Using ACGME milestones and core competencies, institutionally developed professionalism milestones, traits adapted from the Hogan Leadership Profile, as well as older anecdotal models such as the 3 ‘A’s, we have developed a competency model for leadership.
Results: Our leadership model includes three domains: Leading the Self: Personal Leadership; Leading Others: Patient and Team Leadership; and Leading Edge: Thought Leadership. Each of these domains incorporates portions from the sources listed above to integrate leadership into the daily lives of our residents and staff. The model also includes milestones for each of these domains tracking from internship to a mid-career faculty member. Each milestone includes both concrete tasks as well as character traits expected at each step.
Conclusions: Leadership development is essential given the changing nature of healthcare and the role of the neurosurgeon. We present our work creating a model to guide the development of neurosurgical leaders.
Patient Care: By improving neurosurgeons ability to lead in healthcare.
Learning Objectives: By the conclusion of this session, participants should be able to 1)Identify key traits for successful leadership 2)Identify the components needed to develop all areas of leadership.