PRO
Clinical practice is beneficial to patients, the group, and your career
Finding a balance between clinical care and leadership duties truly is a challenge for hospitalist directors. Changes in the landscape of inpatient care delivery, rapid growth of HM groups, and expansion of hospitalist roles have resulted in a substantial increase in a director’s responsibilities. Today’s hospitalist leader squarely faces the dilemma of continuing clinical practice and performing administrative efforts while demonstrating competence in each. To be effective, this is precisely what physician leaders must strive to do.
Maintaining clinical practice alongside directorship duties conveys advantages in critical leadership areas. You must consider the benefits to your patient, your career, and the hospitalist group.
The Patient, Director, Group
Physician leaders offer clinical experience combined with a unique perspective on systems of care, or “the big picture.”
Likewise, caring for patients provides the opportunity to interact with and listen to the customer, which is necessary for important outcomes, such as patient satisfaction. It reminds us that we are here to care for and about patients, keeping our efforts patient-centered.
Direct patient care refocuses directors on the fundamental reason they are in leadership. It offers intrinsic professional rewards and intellectual satisfaction that will sustain and strengthen the leadership role. The effective leader strategically finds balance by delegating, prioritizing, and focusing on time management.
Continuing your clinical practice affords physician leaders leverage with their constituents—the hospitalists. Working in the trenches, especially during critical times, yields legitimacy and credibility. It also allows the leader to identify with and respond to concerns raised by members. This can connect the leader to the group, avoiding the “suit vs. white coat” dynamic. The same principle extends to other stakeholders who are part of the care team, such as nurses and referring physicians.
Other Factors
Maintaining clinical aptitude ensures that leaders stay apprised of current practices, and are aware of the latest techniques, data, and evidence. This is critical for ensuring group performance in quality initiatives, and for setting standards of clinical excellence in the group practice.
In academic centers, ward teaching allows leaders to train future physicians, pass on knowledge, and gain an understanding of the next generation and its priorities, thus keeping an eye on the future and having a clear vision.
Perhaps the most important benefit direct patient care provides in leadership is the ability to accomplish the group’s mission. A firsthand experience brings understanding of issues around workflow, efficiency, and career satisfaction. It allows leaders to audit best practices. It inspires innovative ideas for healthcare delivery and processing improvement changes.
The model of successful physician leadership is based on clinical excellence. The construct of a separation between clinical and administrative roles is a false dichotomy; the two are interdependent. HM directors have a duty to perform both, as it is the combination that makes leaders successful. TH
Dr. Wright is associate clinical professor and chief of the division of hospital medicine at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health in Madison.
CON
Physician leaders should relinquish clinical practice, focus on leading
I believe the vast majority of hospitalists agree with the “pro” side of this debate, but I also believe that this kind of knee-jerk reaction reflects the core deficiency that plagues physicians’ thinking regarding leadership.
The way medicine is being practiced and delivered in the hospital setting is rapidly changing. In fact, our specialty is based on this premise. Yet hospitalists still have a stone-age mentality when it comes to physician leaders. The concept of leadership, in most cases, is an afterthought.