Leadership development in New Zealand and Australian medical schools: needs analysis

What is it about?

Background
Leadership is a core competency of doctors. However, specific learning outcomes for leadership are often not well defined in medical school curricula. This paper uses New Zealand and Australia medical school curricula as a case example for conducting a needs analysis of leadership learning outcomes.

Methods
To identify curriculum gaps, we conducted a needs analysis of the Australian Medical Council (AMC) Outcomes for Graduates, which sets the standards for all Australian and New Zealand Medical Schools.

We compared the AMC Outcomes for Graduates to the Medical Leadership Competency Framework (MLCF), and analysed whether the AMC Outcomes for Graduates would satisfy each MLCF domain.

Results
5/8 (63%) of undergraduate MLCF domains and 7/12 (58%) of postgraduate domains were judged to be already satisfied by the AMC Outcomes for Graduates.

Some key elements of leadership as described in the MLCF are not yet encapsulated in the AMC Outcomes for Graduates. Two particularly notable absences are audit and quality improvement.

Conclusions
Leadership is multidimensional. Some dimensions may be more appropriately learnt after medical school. There are however significant gaps in current curricula in Australia and New Zealand as defined by the AMC. These could be met more effectively using the Medical Leadership Competency Framework.

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