Incorporating Medical Leadership and Management into Undergraduate Training

There is a growing concern that doctors need to develop leadership and management competencies to become more actively involved in planning, delivery and transformation of patient services. Medical schools in Sri Lanka are aiming to produce doctors equipped with comprehensive and up to date medical knowledge, key technical competencies and soft - skills in their medical education. However, current training of medical students does not have the aspect of Medical Leadership and Management in their curriculum. In this context, doctors in various levels do not have the required knowledge, skills and behaviors needed to act as a clinical leader when delivering patient care services in Sri Lankan health system. As a result, medical administrators managing secondary and tertiary care hospitals face with difficulties to carry out their managerial duties and responsibilities. There is increasing recognition of the importance of incorporating medical leadership training into undergraduate medical curriculum in countries like United Kingdom. As this issue is repeatedly seen in Sri Lankan setting, if the root cause is attended, the efforts made for the strengthening of health services in the country would be more productive. Therefore, the author proposes the responsible authorities to incorporate MLM to undergraduate medical training in Sri Lanka.