Effective Physician Leadership Series Learn how to capitalize on nonprofit board membership in today's podcast episode. During clinical training and medical practice, it is difficult to develop basic business skills. However, there are ways to get those experiences through volunteer activities. […]
Effective Physician Leadership Series In today's podcast, we learn how nonprofit board membership enables you to acquire management and leadership skills. If we wish to demonstrate our executive skills on our resumé and our LinkedIn profile and describe them during our interviews, we need to know what they are. […]
In this episode, we discuss how volunteering to serve a nonprofit board provides leadership experience and expedites career transition. A Book Review As I’ve studied the issue of career transition, I’ve often encountered burnout as a reason to shift careers. But there is an ignored cousin to burnout: physician suicide. The physician suicide rate is double that of the general population. And it appears, at least anecdotally, that the training of medical students contributes to the likelihood of [...]
“How would you design a great hospital quality improvement program?” A distinguished gentleman who looks to be in his 60s is asking the question. He and I are sitting across from each other at the end of a long, dark mahogany conference table. I don’t remember how I came to be here. I probably look a bit confused. “John. Tell me… How would you do that?” […]
Several events this week inspired me to think about preparing to be a better physician leader. A colleague reminded me about the upcoming Spring Institute and Annual Meeting of the American Association for Physician Leadership. I had just completed registering myself. And I volunteered to act as an ambassador, assisting with introducing speakers and helping to support the meeting. Networking with colleagues and old friends will be fun. And I look forward to spending time in New York City with my wife, [...]
For this post, I'm going to “nerd out.” I love using data. And I love monitoring, improving and discussing quality and safety. That was one of the fun things I did as hospital CMO. I also enjoy playing around with ways to display data, especially for lay people with a limited understanding of statistics. So today we will make our way to the “popular” Bubble Graph (well – it's popular with me at least), as I demonstrate how to prepare [...]
I was walking towards the cafeteria one morning when I recognized one of our hospital board members. I recalled seeing him at one the meetings where I had presented hospital board reports addressing quality. We stopped to chat for a minute. He had been on the board for several years, and had an intimate knowledge of the performance of the hospital. He knew many of the local medical staff. His wife had once worked for the hospital. [...]
Looking back, I may not have taken the most obvious route to becoming Chief Medical Officer. But the journey was fairly sequential. And there were several resources that helped me to feel confident as a physician leader. There is more need today than ever for skilled physician leaders. There are several specific steps that hopeful executives can take to enhance their competencies. But each physician will need to determine his or her own path based on his or her circumstances. When [...]
I have found that volunteering in various community activities can provide meaningful lessons for physician leaders. I think it is especially useful to work on a nonprofit board. Doing so provides real value to your community while enhancing several important skills. A Touching Letter About fifteen of us were sitting around the conference room table. The hospice executive director was reading a letter from a client's daughter. The daughter wrote about how thankful she was for all of the support that [...]
