Here’s a leadership challenge: Get a group of highly independent, intelligent individuals to come together to build a boat. But imagine the blueprint for that boat is vague and untested. Now imagine that this boat must be built in choppy, progressively inhospitable waters, while said individuals are frantically treading water to stay afloat. Convincing these smart people that there’s a problem isn’t the issue. Convincing them to abandon their desperate and crucial self-preservation activities long enough to create a viable way out of the situation is.
The current practice of medicine is presenting on-the-job hazards not previously encountered. It seems that daily, physicians are challenged with yet another required change to the work they presently do. We wonder out loud, “What is so wrong with the way I’ve been doing it all these years? How on earth did the field of medicine survive without an electronic health record, without measuring patient satisfaction, without data telling us how many patients followed through on recommended screening tests and without annual wellness visits?”
Three years ago I stepped into a leadership role in my organization because I wanted to help do something about physician burnout and help my colleagues navigate the changing landscape. We have spent the last three years redefining our culture and figuring out what we need to do, not only to survive, but to thrive as we move from episodic patient care toward a model of population health management. While I know we are making incremental improvements and our burnout scores have improved, my daily work is to champion projects and initiatives that present yet more painful change for my physician colleagues. Knowing that the long-term impact of these initiatives on the group and those we care for will be positive does not make the implementation any easier. Despite communicating a vision of the future that improves both the lives of physicians and the care of patients, the reality is that the pace of change is triggering a degree of stress and loss that can be overwhelming.
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