Impact of Leadership Style on Patient Safety Culture in the Department of Radiodiagnosis

Abstract

Background: Healthcare organisation is a high reliability establishment hence, tackles safety on daily basis. To achieve the desired level of safety, leaders need to work and behave in a way to make it a priority. This is because leadership principles have a relationship with patient safety culture. <br /> Objective: To assess the impact of leadership style on patient safety culture in Radiodiagnosis. <br /> Materials and Method: This study was carried out among 80 health workers in Radiodiagnostic department of two tertiary health institutions. Two adopted questionnaires were used to collect data. Leadership style was assessed from subordinates' perspective so questionnaires on leadership style were administered to 76 out of the 80 enrollees; excluding to 4 leaders in both units of the study areas. All enrollees were given questionnaires on patient safety culture to fill. The impact of leadership styles on patient safety culture was determined using Chi-square test of association, <br /> Results: Transformational and lassiez faire leadership styles have no significant association with all the domains of patient safety culture. Transactional leadership style shows a significant association with two domains of patient safety culture. However, it does not have a significant association with other domains of patient safety culture. An overall chi-square analysis shows that no significant association exists between patient safety culture and transformational (p= 0.156), transactional (p= 0.156) and lassiez faire (p= 0.659) leadership styles. <br /> Conclusion: There is no significant association between any of the leadership styles and culture of patient safety.<br /> Keywords: Leadership, Patient, safety culture, Radiodiagnosis, Health Institution.