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Introduction: Clinical leadership skills are essential across all levels of a healthcare organization and must be employed by those most appropriate to the situation, regardless of position or profession. However, most medical students and junior doctors remain unaware of how leadership can be assimilated into their everyday clinical practice. Aim: To investigate the perceived preparedness of medical students and junior doctors for their role as clinical leaders. Methods: A systematic search was performed of the MEDLINE, ERIC and PubMed databases. Papers pertaining to medical students and junior doctors that included primary data on preparedness for clinical leadership or behaviors associated with being a clinical leader were included. Results: Sixteen papers were included and analyzed after screening 254. No studies specifically assessed the transition to clinical leader. Evidence suggests that new graduates perceive leadership as individualistic and hierarchical, and that they are only partially prepared to fill this role. Preparedness for clinical leadership was associated with increasing responsibility, experience and time-served. Conclusions: New graduates are unlikely to question senior colleagues as they lack leadership-specific communication skills. Further research is required into how to actively promote leadership in medical students and ease the transition to leadership roles within clinical teams. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are numerous resistant microorganisms but meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is probably the most notorious. MRSA is a resistant variation of the common bacterium, Staphylococcus aureus, that has developed the ability to survive treatment with a number of beta-lactam antibiotics, including meticillin. The focus of this article is a narrative literature review concerning the challenge that MRSA presents to nurses and other healthcare workers. A historical overview of antimicrobial resistance and the origins of MRSA are given, together with the factors involved in the persistence of antimicrobial resistance. The relevant microbiology, pathogenesis and epidemiology of MRSA will be discussed to provide a detailed rationale for the contemporary management of this persistent, resistant organism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]