Competence-based demands made of senior physicians: an empirical study to evaluate leadership competencies

As a result of more economising in German hospitals, changes evolve in organising the deployment of senior medical staff. New demands are made of senior hospital management. Leadership competencies in the training and development of physicians are of prime importance to the successful perception of managerial responsibilities. The present study investigates the actual and targeted demands of leadership made of senior medical staff in terms of how these demands are perceived. To this end, the demands of leadership were surveyed using a competence-based questionnaire and investigated with a view to potentials in professional development by way of example of the senior management of psychiatric hospitals in Germany. In all, the results show high ratings in personal performance, the greatest significance being attributed to value-oriented competence in the actual assessment of demands on leadership. Besides gender-specific differences in the actual assessments of single fields of competence, the greatest differences between the targeted and the actual demands are, in all, shown to be in the competencies of self-management and communication. Competence-based core areas in leadership can be demonstrated for the professional development of physicians and an adaptive mode of procedure deduced.