Physician and nurse burnout is a severe issue that’s been plaguing the healthcare industry for years. Recognized by the World Health Organization as a syndrome resulting from chronic distress, physician and nurse burnout is a serious occupational phenomenon that has been accelerated and intensified by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Leadership development training for leaders in healthcare is crucial to accelerate individual, team, and business performance. During these tumultuous times, effective leadership supports the well-being and morale of teams and patients. In fact, ensuring that healthcare leaders are equipped with the right skills and mindset to be in a position of positive influence is at the forefront of many healthcare organizations’ priorities. Consequently, 52% of these organizations are currently naming physician and leader alignment as their top investment priority. Yet the same Huron survey shows that 21% of respondents report not having a leadership strategy in place.
As we enter the third wave of COVID-19, we are once again facing an uncertain future for leaders at all levels. One thing, though, is certain and that is the enormous impact of the pandemic on physician leaders. Physician leadership, which has always played a role in the alignment between hospital administration, medical staff, and the communities served, has become increasingly important as hospitals and health systems around the country embark on or continue efforts to strategically integrate with physicians. However, developing physician leaders can be a difficult undertaking. As we knew, before COVID-19, the skills that make a physician a fabulous doctor, don't necessarily correlate with being a successful leader.
The challenges resulting from the pandemic have overwhelmed even the most skilled and experienced leaders, whether they are physicians or not. The challenges demand navigating volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous conditions — a situation often referred to as VUCA. Physician leaders today need to shift constantly and decide in an instant with limited data — to be agile and adaptive.
Collaboration in healthcare teams is becoming the “go-to” strategy for solving some of the thorniest problems facing the industry. While critical to success, collaboration is no easy task. Clinical care and medical research have become more complex and specialized, requiring multi-disciplinary teams to come together often from multiple organizations. Healthcare systems, biotechnology, and pharmaceutical companies, and health technology start-ups are forming, merging, and/or being acquired at an increased pace. Because of this, administrative, clinical, and executive teams are being tasked with collaborating in new and different ways.
When our executive coaching client Jane* was appointed vice president and COO of a large community hospital of an academic health system, her new appointment represented an exciting milestone in her career trajectory.
Disruption continues to challenge our industry. Now more than ever boards are in a unique position to advise leadership on how to best respond to the rapidly changing work environment resulting from the pandemic. Like many of our clients, you may be wondering if you have the right board in place to guide your organization into the future of work. The key to creating a meaningful board starts with assessing and selecting key success factors.
TLD Group President & CEO Tracy Duberman interviewed David Carmouche, who is the current President of Ochsner Health Network, and previously served as the Chief Medical Officer and Executive Vice President of External Health Plan Operations for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Louisiana. David's experience leading in the healthcare ecosystem spans both within and across the provider and payer sectors. In this interview, David discusses how he had developed and implemented cross-sector initiatives designed to organize care, improve quality, and increase affordability.
With the tsunami of changes occurring in the healthcare industry today – ranging from increasing cost of care, shifting government regulations, technological advances, and the move from volume- to value-based care, the need to focus on population health holds utmost importance. Undeniably, all healthcare sectors hold the same shared goal of providing the best care to consumers, but each of the different (and often competing) sectors also holds varying interests, values, and points of view. In order to be best positioned to meet that shared goal of improving health outcomes and quality of life, industry leaders must foster an ecosystem view, which prioritizes population and community health through cross-sector collaboration.
