“No one knows the warts of your health system better than your doctors,” Mr. Strickland wrote. Here are six steps for hospital managers, marketing directors and public relations professionals to stay attuned with physicians’ concerns about their workplace.
1. Get over the “us vs. them” mindset. Get incentives aligned and acknowledge them. If something is beneficial for patients and physicians, then it’s beneficial for the hospital.
2. Rally commitment from the C-suite. Executives also need to hold managers accountable for identifying and responding to physician concerns.
3. Put yourself in a vulnerable position. Asking physicians what bothers them may lead to some unexpected answers and things managers may not necessarily want to hear. On the other hand, acting like everything is fine will go nowhere.
4. Act on complaints. If a physician identifies a specific problem, management should be prepared to fix it quickly.
5. Follow up. Once the problem is resolved, management should follow up with the physician to let him/her know the problem is solved. “Then, ask what else you can do to make life easier for them,” says Mr. Strickland.
6. Repeat. This is a way of life for a hospital, “not a campaign,” says Mr. Strickland.
More Articles on Hospital-Physician Relationships:
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Physician Attrition in the Next 10 Years: 15 Findings
Mobile Health: Why Physicians, Hospitals Should Overcome Reluctance
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