Leadership in Public Health: Analyzing an Australian Scenario

Learning Outcome

This assessment addresses the following learning outcomes:Critique theories, styles, approaches and strategies of leadership in public health.Analyse the influence of diversity on leadership (gender, culture, professional discipline and community).Evaluate personal leadership strengths and areas for improvement through analysis of public health leadership frameworks.

In this assignment, you will be provided a scenario (problem) involving a public health leader that you will need to analyse using the knowledge gained from this subject for 3 modules. Subsequently, immersing  yourself in the scenario, you will evaluate yourself as a public health leader. (Note: Scenario will be  provided after Module 2).You will be writing a 2000?word report in three parts, as follows: 

Part 1: Analyse the scenario of the public health leader, presented in the Australian public health  context using the Australian Health Leadership Framework.

Part 2: Undertake a self?assessment using the Leadership self?assessment tool.

Part 3: Imagine yourself to be in the situation. Reflect on your leadership style, its strengths, and apply them to this scenario. How would you have responded to the situation based on the self?evaluation in part  2?

Where do you see the gaps in your profile? Prepare an action plan. 

Helen is a 35-year-old General practitioner, who has been practicing in Warnambool in the State of Victoria (Australia) for 5 years. As a general practitioner, she has focused on primary care of individuals in the country town after moving from Melbourne. In January 2018, she was accoladed by the council in Warnambool, for her services in helping increase child immunization rates and increasing awareness on cancer screening programs. In the same meeting, the board recognized that there is a need for a new public health officer in the area, and Helen was nominated. Helen’s mandate included promoting healthy communities, focusing on the health of the population rather than focusing only on primary care of individuals.

The new mandate includes a range of services from sanitation, housing, infection control and immunization programs. She was confronted with the fact that there is a need to engage the close-knit community, empowering them to take control of their own environments and involve themselves in policy making. She is aware that this is a diverse, multi-ethnic, ageing community, where traditionally town planners, architects and policy makers have driven the agenda for public health initiatives. In addition, the community is not open to younger female leaders, although she is a popular GP. At this juncture, Helen has to become an influential public health leader, engaging the community, advocating for equitable access to services, health promotion, environmental health issues, disease prevention, finding sustainable food sources (Community gardens), accessible exercise (running tracks) etc – to name a few.

Assignment Overview

The remote area lacks specialist services, for which patients are often sent to the nearest city that is 300 kilometers away from the town. As a GP, Helen has been deeply concerned about this issue as there has been many deaths that occurred due to lack of specialist care. She had been exploring the options of teleconsultations and telesurgery, with her colleagues. As a GP, she wanted to initiate these services for better care of the majority of senior citizenry in the area. However, with a small GP practice, and as a young single woman, her leadership is viewed with skepticism by policy makers, senior government stakeholders, senior citizens in the community, and town planners. Whilst Helen is a trusted GP, the stakeholders in the community are uncertain of her new senior leadership role as Public Health Officer representing the community.

Helen is a kind, optimistic and qualified medical practitioner, but also introverted and never worked with many stakeholders nor managed many subordinates. In her new role, the town planning office has also provided her with an office and 10 staff reporting directly to her, chosen from different areas including, environment officers, nurses, bio-statisticians, IT support, and administrators. Helen has to report on significant changes by end of the year and has also been provided with seeding funds to kickstart some initiatives.

Your graded assignment will be assessed against the following specific criteria: 

· Demonstrated ability to analyse public health leadership scenario in the context, applying  the Australian Health Leadership Framework to the scenario presented 

· Demonstrated ability to self?assess leadership style, summarise and critique 

· Demonstrated ability to contextualise, reflect on leadership style, assess gaps and prepare  an action plan for improvement 

· General assessment criteria

o Provides a lucid introduction 

o Shows a sophisticated understanding of the key issues 

o Shows ability to interpret relevant information and literature in relation to  chosen topic 

o Demonstrates a capacity to explain and apply relevant concepts 

o Shows evidence of reading beyond the required readings 

o Justifies any conclusions reached with well?formed arguments and not merely  assertions 

o Provides a conclusion or summary 

o Correctly uses academic writing, presentation and grammar: 

§ Complies with academic standards of legibility, referencing and bibliographical details (including reference list) 

§ Writes clearly, with accurate spelling and grammar as well as proper  sentence and paragraph construction 

§ Uses appropriate APA style for citing and referencing research.