The Business of Caring — Maintaining Compassion While Creating “Processes”

My friend calls the business of caring as having a “smart heart.” Caring can be most certainly one of the most daunting parts of being a physician leader. The most important thing to remember about your practice is that you offer what no one else does. You and your staff define the culture. Convey that with pride!

How can you express your value with a personalized meaning to your patients? It’s mostly just by using common sense. Being genuine in providing care is evident — you can’t fake it or hide it. As he established his practice, one physician I work with set up a table at the local farmers’ market to introduce himself and meet prospective patients in familiar and comfortable surroundings. He was getting to know those in the community, and they were getting to know him. What a great move! Honest, open, and healthy! Having a compassionate heart along with business savvy is a significant launching point.

Many offices dive into their system as much as they need to do their job but do not go any further. They typically do not have the extra time to invest in learning advanced features of their software — but now is the time. It is essential to utilize systems to their fullest potential. It’s good business to tap into shortcuts that you’ve already purchased. The effort of being adept in technology is worth it, and it pays for itself to have a super user for systems you are working with — and saves your staff time by reducing their learning curves.

Contact your vendors and dig deep. Let system reporting support and point you toward the most fitting platforms for the practice. Your systems should work in partnership with your routines and procedures resulting in a smooth workflow, not relying on “work arounds” that can be costly, inefficient time suckers.

For sustainability, you must analyze systems and information in a way that helps the practice move forward with compassion to compliment the technology you use. Ultimately though, the most important thing is to remember we are all patients at some time, and think about the business as a consumer also.

Will We Ever Really Agree on Healthcare?!

A common patient complaint is receiving different approaches according to the provider they see that day, even within the same group practice for the same illness or injury. It can make physicians appear to be incapable. We want our patients to remember us as confident, in agreement, and competent on every level of treatment. Please let me offer before going further that we all know medicine is not an exact science and receive different kinds of trainings and experience different patient encounters. We are all unique and have our own opinion. There is no right or wrong.

Excerpted from The Emotionally Intelligent Physician Leader by Susan Fink Childs, FACMPE.