Leaders in Training
Friday, September 16, 2011
Of the countless terms that enter the medical field’s lexicon each year, the phrase “physician leader” has garnered significant attention in the recent past. According to Hospitals & Health Networks magazine, medical school deans, health system administrators and physicians themselves are sizing up the clinical and economical shifts in the health care industry and are calling for growth in the comprehensive leadership skills development afforded to physicians. In Washington, the Washington State Medical Association (WSMA) is providing just an opportunity with its biannual Physicians Leadership Course.
The Spring 2012 WSMA/UW Physician Leadership Course will be held from March 30 to June 8. The initial in-person segments will be hosted at the Riverpoint Campus in Spokane, WA, on March 30 and 31, followed by eight weeks of online participation. The final in-person session and a closing ceremony will be held June 8 at the Riverpoint Campus. The course is limited to 30 physicians. Member and nonmember pricing will apply.
Motivated by national debate, WSMA conducted a survey and series of focus groups to assess its membership’s needs regarding expertise outside the patient care realm. The results revealed that approximately 40% of WSMA members practice with — or are employed in — physician groups of 100 or more people and that the incident of leadership responsibilities was frequently disproportionate to a member’s level of leadership training.
“We found that young physicians in those larger practices, particularly younger physicians, were being asked to serve on committees or head sections and didn’t feel prepared to do so,” says Jennifer Hanscom, Associate Executive Director and COO of WSMA. “In addition, our members wanted to seek out the necessary training, but between their practices and personal lives, they didn’t have the time to commit to getting an M.H.A. or M.B.A.”
What members needed was a convenient introduction to leadership. With the help of a grant from The Physicians’ Foundation and guidance from its physician advisory board, WSMA partnered with someone well-versed in helping physicians craft the type of training most applicable to their career paths.
Tailor Made
“At the University of Washington, we have a master’s degree leadership track for those intent on becoming a CMO [chief medical officer], but very few physicians are attracted to that level of commitment. About 15 years ago, we began to offer a pared down version in a certificate course for those more interested in a clinical director position,” says Edward Walker, M.D., M.H.A., Director of the University of Washington Healthcare Leadership Development Alliance. “Based on the growing interest in the certificate course, a 101-style course that included all the constructs of the in-depth curriculums seemed like it would be appealing.”
The WSMA Physician Leadership Course is a partnership with the University of Washington graduate programs in health administration and UW Professional & Continuing Education. This course represents the intersection of physicians’ needs and interests and their time constrains. The 10-week course consists of eight weeks of online assignments and group work bookended by two in-person weekend meetings. The first in-person session spans two days and involves forming five groups of six physicians — who will collaborate throughout the rest of the course — and learning about each participant’s personal and leadership styles, in addition to how differing styles can interact productively.
The online portion is formatted in a Moodle — an open-source course management system — through which groups spend roughly two hours a week completing assignments and working toward a final capstone case. The WSMA/UW Physician Leadership Course is rooted in the constructivist theory, which advocates learning by actively building and doing, rather than passive reading.
Divided into four units, the eight weeks cover leadership and management, quality and patient safety, planning and budgeting, and the synthesis and application of those principles. The final in-person meeting provides a forum for physicians to discuss the next steps in their leadership futures and participate in a closing ceremony.
Contributing to the Broader Picture
For Julie Mattson, M.D., family medicine physician at The Everett Clinic, leadership training had always been a goal, but time limitations pushed the pursuit to the backburner. The changes in health care, coupled with her conviction that physicians should play an active role in health care improvements, prompted her to enroll.
“Prior to the course, I had heard terms like ‘quality improvement’ tossed around so much, but never really knew or understood the background or logical approach for starting such a project,” says Dr. Mattson. “The course granted me basic skills and vocabulary and self-confidence for being more involved in my organization’s leadership activities.”
According to Dr. Mattson, those lessons will apply directly to her career and professional involvement at The Everett Clinic, a physician owned practice made up of 325 physicians from multiple specialities.
For Dr. Walker, the direct relationship between what participants learn in the course and what they take back to their respective organizations is crucial. Just as important is the familiarity physicians gain through exposure to financial planning and interpersonal management concepts and how that exposure may spark an interest in individuals, leading to further leadership development.
“I think trained physicians make very good leaders because they understand how to balance what the organization needs and what the individual patient needs,” says Dr. Walker. “Administrators of small and large health care organizations need strong, well-trained physician partners to help them partner with the medical and nursing staff, and these are the doctors who are most likely going to be able to do that.”
For more information or to register for the upcoming WSMA/UW Physician Leadership Course, visit www.wsma.org, highlight “Medical Professionalism” and click “Leadership Development.”
Washington State Medical Association
MD News September/October 2011, Seattle