Clinician styles of care: Transforming patient care at the intersection of leadership and medicine

Abstract

A key role of clinicians is to motivate their patients to initiate and maintain beneficial health behaviors. This article integrates research on transformational leadership, clinician–patient communication, and health behavior to introduce a novel approach to understanding and improving clinicians’ effectiveness as motivators. We describe three dominant clinician styles or patterned approaches to patient care that derive from leadership theory (in order of least to most effective): laissez-faire, transactional, and transformational. Additionally, we suggest potential mediators and effects of the transformational style of care. Finally, we discuss future research directions for the study of clinician styles of care.