overview

While it is still early in your doctoral education process, it is important to start thinking about where you might complete your doctoral project and who could be your preceptor. This assignment provides an opportunity for you to evaluate a potential practicum site and a leader to serve as preceptor for your final doctoral project. Your interviewee should be in a health care leadership position with a graduate degree in a health care-related field. Ideally he or she should have a doctorate, but a master’s degree is acceptable.

This assignment has two parts:

1. Interview a health care leader who could serve as your preceptor for your final doctoral project.
   • Summarize the interview in a 3–5 page paper.
2. With guidance from the health care leader you interview, determine a gap, need, or opportunity that will serve as the basis for the remaining assignments in this course. It should align with a strategic priority of the organization or health care system.
   • Keep in mind this could also serve as a topic for your doctoral project. Explore the feasibility and fidelity of this with the leader, including alignment with the capstone process and timeline.

Instructions

The following corresponds to the grading criteria in the scoring guide, so be sure to address each listed point. Consider reviewing the performance-level descriptions for each criterion to see how your work will be assessed.

1. Evaluate the primary leadership style of a chosen leader in a health care management position.
   • What are the leader’s credentials and what is his or her formal position in the organization?
   • What role does the leader play in the organization, system, or public health arena?
     • Is he or she a mentor to others?
     • How visible is the leader outside the organization?
     • How would you characterize his or her leadership style?
     • What is his or her role in communication?
     • Is he or she viewed as a change agent?
2. Assess a leader’s organizational role as it relates to quality, safety, and evidence-based standards.
   • How is the leader’s role interdisciplinary?
   • What is one example of how this leader facilitates, participates, or fosters interprofessional or interdisciplinary collaboration?
   • What is an example of how this leader champions quality and safety in the organization or public health system?
3. Explain the rationale behind the selection of a leader to serve as a preceptor.
   • Describe why this leader is qualified to be a doctoral preceptor.
     • Is this person trusted and respected in the organization and community?
   • Identify the connections he or she has to formal and informal power and how might these be leveraged to assist you in a quality improvement project or evidence-based practice change.
     • For example, could you get help with navigating policy, recruiting team members, enlisting buy-in?
4. Identify a gap, problem, or opportunity for a capstone project.
   • Can this be connected to an organizational, systemic, or public health strategic priority?
   • What are the implications for patient outcomes and safety?
   • In the context of the health care system identified, how will you include the voice of the patient?
5. Summarize a leader’s ability to provide ethical stewardship and oversight when accessing sensitive organizational information.
   • What is within the leader’s capacity to protect?
   • What challenges has the leader encountered with regard to the ethical use of the organization’s private data?
   • How does a leader provide oversight with communications related to organizational information?
6. Convey purpose, in an appropriate tone and style, incorporating supporting evidence and adhering to organizational, professional, and scholarly writing standards.

Additional Requirements

• Length of paper: 3–5 pages of content plus title and reference pages.
• Resources: At least 3 sources including personal communications when appropriate, published within the last 5 years.
• APA format: Cite your sources using current APA format.
• Font and font size: Times Roman, 12 points.