Doctors as Organisational Leaders
“Making clinicians organisational leaders is a huge and costly task. Is it worth it, especially given the many competing demands on clinicians’ time?”
Introduction
Making senior clinicians as organisational leaders after years of their clinical &
practical skills, time investment, financial cost to something which they were not
trained from the medical school and higher specialty training is definitely a huge and
costly task.
Traditional view of doctors and nurses are trained to look after the sick and suffering
patients while managers plan strategically for finance and development is not a healthy
model in the modern healthcare industry. Making clinicians as organizational leaders
is worth every penny – as evidence from all over the world suggest that health care
systems led by doctors are offering a fantastic quality of service and value for
money. Classic examples for this doctor leading organisations – Kaiser Permanente,
Veterans Health Administrations, Mayo clinic (USA) and Apollo hospitals (India).
Health care systems across the world are facing their toughest challenge of providing safe
and quality care to the patients at this time of austerity in a cost efficient way.
Cost of providing healthcare is spiraling with the invention of new technologies,
expensive medications, increasing life expectancy and overall patient expectations
coupled with demand. Our own National Health Service is faced with a challenge of
its life time saving 15% of cost efficiency savings in the next three years whilst
promoting innovation and new care models to the patient care pathway.
My argument in this essay would justify the reasons behind the concept of hybrid
Clinician – Leaders and their cost effectiveness in the healthcare industry.
Doctor – Leaders are better equipped with strategic decisions in planning patient
pathways, integrated care with
Introduction
Making senior clinicians as organisational leaders after years of their clinical &
practical skills, time investment, financial cost to something which they were not
trained from the medical school and higher specialty training is definitely a huge and
costly task.
Traditional view of doctors and nurses are trained to look after the sick and suffering
patients while managers plan strategically for finance and development is not a healthy
model in the modern healthcare industry. Making clinicians as organizational leaders
is worth every penny – as evidence from all over the world suggest that health care
systems led by doctors are offering a fantastic quality of service and value for
money. Classic examples for this doctor leading organisations – Kaiser Permanente,
Veterans Health Administrations, Mayo clinic (USA) and Apollo hospitals (India).
Health care systems across the world are facing their toughest challenge of providing safe
and quality care to the patients at this time of austerity in a cost efficient way.
Cost of providing healthcare is spiraling with the invention of new technologies,
expensive medications, increasing life expectancy and overall patient expectations
coupled with demand. Our own National Health Service is faced with a challenge of
its life time saving 15% of cost efficiency savings in the next three years whilst
promoting innovation and new care models to the patient care pathway.
My argument in this essay would justify the reasons behind the concept of hybrid
Clinician – Leaders and their cost effectiveness in the healthcare industry.
Doctor – Leaders are better equipped with strategic decisions in planning patient
pathways, integrated care with
References: Pedro J Castro, Stephen J Dorgan and Ben Richardson (2008) A healthier healthcare system for the United Kingdom. The McKinsey Quarterly, February Wirrman EJ, Carlson CL (2005) Public health leadership in primary care practices in England: Everybody’s business? Critical Public Health 15(3): 205 -17 Mountford J, Webb C (2009) When Clinicians Lead Malby B (1998) Clinical Leadership. Adv Pract Nurs Q4(3):40 - 3 Hartley J, Benington J (2010) Leadership for healthcare Healthcare Commission Report (2009) Investigation into Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust. Commission for Healthcare Audit & Inspection, London D Goleman (2004) What makes a leader? Harvard Business Review, Januay Rajan Madhok (2011) Rapid Response Letter to the BMJ - White C. Why doctors can 't always be leaders. BMJ Careers 2011; 342: 195-6. Department of Health (2008) High quality care for all: NHS review final report The stationery office, London King’s Fund (2011) The future of leadership and management in the NHS – No more heroes NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement, Academy of Medical Royal Colleges (2008) Medical Leadership Competency Framework, 2nd Edition Thomas Lee (2010) Turning doctors into leaders Harvard Business Review, April