Short-Term Help
But what to do now? If you are a hospitalist leader, ask your group for feedback. Are they finding satisfaction in the areas described above? Find ways to develop control and autonomy for your group. Encourage them to participate in shaping their own careers and futures. Recognize, recognize, recognize. You can’t say “Thank you” or “Good job” too often. Learn how your group members prefer to be recognized and try to personalize what you do for them. Remember this line from The One Minute Manager, by Kenneth Blanchard, PhD, and Spencer Johnson, MD: “Catch them doing something right.” It happens around us all day, but we take performance for granted and fail to praise and recognize.
If you are a hospitalist, help shape your own destiny. Participate, ask questions, and devise solutions. And recognize the nurses, the social worker, and your group leader.
Together we can create career satisfaction and lifelong, fulfilling work. Unlike Mick Jagger, we will then get some satisfaction! TH
Dr. Gorman is the president of SHM.