The path to physician reinvention

by Kenneth H. Cohn It always gives me a good feeling when physicians say to me after a seminar, "You gave me hope." Physicians are facing a number of losses, from clinical autonomy to financial security, as noted in the Archives of Family Medicine. In general, physicians have done everything asked of them from college through fellowship training. Yet, something is missing from the lives of many doctors I have worked with across 43 states. As Joe Tye wrote in "A New Clinical Finding:" In the sterile quiet of the exam room doctor ponders the unusual x-ray What do you prescribe for chest pain caused by a dying dream trapped inside the heart? Unlike the progression from college to medical school to residency and fellowship training, the path for physician leaders is unclear because, unlike training, no one tells us what to do. With many ways to expend scarce resources without any guarantee of success, the outcome is in doubt, which triggers expense concerns. Moreover, failure is not an option for physicians. Consider what a practicing general surgeon told me about getting promoted to section chief: "We're not stupid--we just need to be trained." The path toward physician reinvention includes: Tune into trends outside your field: Gary Yates, M.D, looked to nuclear power and commercial aviation as models to develop a high-reliability safety culture at Sentara Healthcare in southeastern Virginia. Find unmet needs and solve the problems: Charles Rinker, M.D., a rural s...
Source: hospital impact - Category: Health Managers Authors: Source Type: blogs