This session will provide an overview of the Relational Leadership Institute (RLI), an interprofessional, intergenerational leadership program currently held at Oregon Health & Science University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and University of Utah, and developed in partnership with Primary Care Progress. Launched in 2017, RLI engages healthcare professionals and learners at various stages of practice and training in a program combining traditional didactics, small group work, interactive exercises, and coaching. Participants at each institution go through the program as an interprofessional and inter-generational cohort of up to 40 people.
RLI immerses participants in the Relational Leadership framework, a model of leadership that focuses on cultivating authentic relationships as a means to achieve connection, common vision, and interdependent action. The program strengthens participants’ ability to develop and manage relationships with patients, team members, and decision makers and build a community of practice to lead change and improve care within organizations. A core premise of RLI is a focus on psychological safety, and offers strategies for how to best engage people/patients, team members, and communities to advance health for all.
The session will offer a discussion of the evaluation results from several cohorts of faculty, clinicians, and learners who have completed RLI training. Interprofessional healthcare teams often employ traditional, hierarchical, command-and-control styles of leadership that can hinder quality improvement efforts, prevent interdependent teamwork, and contribute to burnout, and the power imbalances between different professions, lack of psychological safety, and a culture of “lone ranger” approaches to clinical practice have all been noted as barriers to team-based care. In contrast, RLI shows leaders how to complement their pre-existing clinical expertise and process improvement skills with relational strategies, resulting in improved care quality and value, as well as enhanced team satisfaction and commitment.
Disclosures:
In accordance with the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education’s Standards for Commercial Support, adopted by the Joint Accreditors for Interprofessional Continuing Education, the National Center for Interprofessional Practice and Education has a conflict of interest policy that requires that all individuals involved in the development of activity content disclose their relevant financial relationships with commercial interests. All potential conflicts of interest that arise based upon these financial relationships are resolved prior to the educational activity.
Barbara Head, Tara Schapmire, Jill Forcina, Meg Zomorodi, Paige Brown, Kae Livsey, Sarah Smithson, Gerri Lamb, Nina Karamehmedovic, Yvonne Price, Jody Thompson, Margaret Robinson, Denise Bender, Melissa Craft, Angela Harnden
declare no vested interest in or affiliation with any commercial interest offering financial support for this interprofessional continuing education activity, or any affiliation with a commercial interest whose philosophy could potentially bias their presentation.
