News & Events
Leadership in seniors care
December 25, 2022
By Lillian Hung, Assistant Professor in the University of British Columbia School of Nursing and instructor for the MHLP in Seniors Care program.
The COVID-19 virus has had an outsized impact on older people, particularly those in long-term care. It’s also had a profound effect on the front-line staff who work with seniors. Our care workers are mentally and physically exhausted, and burnout is a real problem. The seniors care sector had staffing issues before the pandemic, but now the situation is particularly acute.
Supporting the workforce for sustainable geriatric care
There are many lessons to be learned from COVID-19, and one of the most important is that we need knowledgeable leaders, both to ensure the delivery of quality care to some of the most vulnerable members of our population and to build a resilient and sustainable workforce.
These two outcomes are intertwined: front-line workers who feel respected and valued are better positioned to provide seniors with the care they deserve.
COVID-19 has revealed the weakness and fragility of our long-term care systems. We are in a perfect storm of workforce crisis in seniors care, and leaders are challenged to make seniors care an attractive and rewarding place to work.
In UBC’s Master of Health Leadership and Policy program, students learn to use practical science to critically analyze pressing issues to inform actions that create a better future.
Empowering healthcare leaders to deliver innovative care
I teach a philosophies of care class where we explore person-centred care, strength-based approaches and appreciative inquiry. While these approaches are meant to inform our work with older adults, they can also be successfully used to lead teams of front-line workers and empower them to explore ways to deliver better and more innovative care.
The Seniors Care classes include practical case studies based on what’s happening in local health-care settings, including field analysis and interviews with leaders and staff.
These case studies allow us to take a close look at the ingredients that make innovative projects successful.
Our students also take business and leadership courses as part of their master’s degree, where they learn strategies for being good managers and for leading and inspiring teams to embrace and pursue innovation, reform geriatric care and implement quality improvements.
The program’s emphasis on collaborative group work and the many requirements to give presentations helps students build their communication and interpersonal skills.
These skills are essential for leaders tasked with inspiring teams to think and work in new ways.
The tools and credentials for positive change
It’s easy to feel overwhelmed by the magnitude of the challenges facing seniors care, particularly when long-standing issues have been exacerbated by the impacts of the coronavirus.
Our students come to the program with at least three years of professional experience, which means they are well aware of the issues within the sector.
The MHLP curriculum helps them understand the larger systemic factors that contribute to these challenges and launches many conversations about what system and policy changes are needed to create a more resilient and sustainable sector.
The MHLP in Seniors Care is an excellent program for individuals who aspire to be leaders in this field, giving them the tools to work for positive change.
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DR. CHERYL SEGARIC
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Clinical education plays an essential role in the health care system.
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Alex Chui
Seniors Care
After graduating as part of the first cohort of the Master of Health Leadership and Policy in Seniors Care program, Alex Chui worked in advocacy and policy development for the Alzheimer Society of BC and is now leading quality and process improvement projects at Providence Health Care.