How can medical practitioners benefit from leadership training in the Philippines?
- Allowing better collaboration between hospital groups
- Introducing a different perspective to medical practitioners
- Creating leaders that fit the healthcare industry
- Fostering of the next generation medical practitioners
In every industry, leaders are needed to serve as either role models for the others, or as the linchpin that will lead people to new heights. This is no different for medical practitioners. In the past, doctors were taught only about medicine, the human body, and basically everything they need to know on how to cure illnesses and save lives.
However, they were never taught how to lead. In the Philippines, leadership training has become a popular way for these medical practitioners to quickly learn and develop the leadership capabilities that they need in their jobs. Some go as far as attending public speaking trainings in Manila, or resource management workshops in order to develop their skills right away.
But what good does leadership training bring to medical practitioners? How will it help the many medical practitioners who don’t see it as something essential? To answer these questions, here are some of the benefits that leadership training gives medical practitioners.
Allowing Better Collaboration Between Groups of Clinicians
For medical practitioners, the implementation of specific leadership training will bring in a variety of results. The most basic would be the improved collaboration between groups of clinicians and their relationship with the administrative staff.
In traditional hospitals, the segmentation of clinicians depends on what the doctors do. Cardiologists are separate from cardiac surgeons, and they are, in turn, separate from gastroenterologists and neurosurgeons. The classification of doctors creates the need for multiple departments dedicated to specific practices.
In more modern hospitals, on the other hand, doctors are divided according to which part of the human body they work on. This means less sub-divisions or sub-departments. Doctors that need to work closely with each other belong in a single facility thus making collaboration easier. To ensure better efficiency, an overall leader of that facility is needed. Not only will the leader help delegate tasks and guarantee the quality of service, but they would also be responsible with the maintenance of the relationship between the clinicians.
In most hospitals, there will almost always be a conflict or two between doctors from different departments because of a misunderstanding. There are also conflicts between the doctors and the administrators because of poorly aligned financial interests. The hospitals want to shorten the length of a patient’s stay because they will receive good payment per patient’s admission. However, doctors who are paid for each visit they make, make less the sooner a patient goes home.
Leadership training will help the medical practitioner understand both sides and find a way to solve their problem.
Introducing a Different Perspective to Medical Practitioners
As mentioned above, leadership training will enable medical practitioners to understand the other important aspects of the healthcare industry. Knowledge about the administrative, marketing, and executive functions will be introduced to these medical practitioners so that they will have an idea on how each affects the other.
Armed with this insight, a medical practitioner will know how to promote effective and efficient exchange between these departments. No longer will medical practitioners be locked in their own departments, relying on and trusting on the information that other departments give them.
Creating Leaders That Fit the Healthcare Industry
In medical school, doctors almost never have a class that focuses on management. Their on-the-job training would almost never give them the opportunities to develop skills related to resource management, developmental feedback, or conflict management, some of the more useful skills needed in leading or running a business.
Most hospitals try to develop leadership in physicians through the Dyad model. What happens in the Dyad model is a senior physician would be paired with a business executive to run an organization. Sometimes they treat each other as co-leaders or, in some cases, it’s like a mentorship wherein one reports to the other.
In some organizations, this model helps improve the way clinical and operation leaders work together. However, this model can create inefficiencies and sometimes duplication of resources (due to the fact that there are two people sharing the job). It also entails a delay in decision-making because of the deliberation needed between the two. And in worst-case scenarios, it may spawn conflict and power struggles between the leaders because of different priorities.
When it does succeed, it does not prepare physicians enough to become organizational leaders.
Most doctors want to be led by other doctors, by people who are considered experts in their field. This is because they think that it would be harder for people who have no knowledge about the medical industry to lead a team of experts that know most of the ins and outs of both the execution and the resources needed.
Fostering of the Next Generation Medical Practitioners
Lastly, great leadership training will help create leaders in the medical industry that would foster and develop the next generation of clinicians. Just like in any job, the one with the biggest influence on an individual will be their boss. When the boss is equipped with leadership skills and qualities that help you grow as both a person and a clinician, they will be a big help in developing the healthcare industry.
To help these people spread their expertise, most of them undergo public speaking training. In Manila, there are many seminars and workshops that are specifically tailored for the betterment of doctors, clinicians, and all medical practitioners.
Key Takeaway
The medical industry is evolving. With medical practitioners gaining the responsibility of running medical facilities and hospitals, leadership skills and qualities are more important than ever for the betterment of the healthcare industry as a whole.