Curing Physician Management: Why Physician Managers Fail is written for physicians who are in or taking on a management role in healthcare, and for anyone who is managing health care professionals.
The premise of this book is that much can be learned from evaluating the types of personalities that enter physician management, what challenges of management might be unique to healthcare, and what strengths and weaknesses healthcare practitioners carry over into management roles.
There are three basic ingredients to being successful:
- Embracing the philosophy that humility is an essential, and developable, trait. Knowing that we don't know what we don't know, allows one to not only learn, but to include others in the quest to provide better health care.
- Cultivating, embracing, and regularly employing a personal set of principles that are aligned with one's values and with the mission and values of the profession.
- The skills necessary for successful management are not innate, nor are they routinely given to physicians or others as part of their education and training. It is crucial to spend time identifying the skills that are needed and being sure to learn and re-learn these skills while moving through the levels of management and leadership.
By using real-life examples of what can work, and what does not, Curing Physician Management demonstrates what can be done to optimize successful management practices, and what can be learned from management failures.
Aside from simply being a description of positive and negative qualities for managers and leaders, the book looks at specific skills that can be learned and practiced, filling in knowledge and experiential gaps. Linking back to the concept that humility is the first step to learning and improvement, understanding what makes a person a successful clinician may not be what's needed to succeed as a manager and leader and may actually be detrimental unless tempered by self-awareness and by skill development.
Greenglass, Alan S.: - Dr. Alan S. Greenglass is a retired physician and health system executive. After studying engineering at Columbia University, he turned to health care as a way to combine his interest in science and his desire to find solutions to societal problems. He graduated from Brown University School of Medicine where he also trained in Internal Medicine. He was a primary care internist and physician manager at Kaiser Permanents in Connecticut and Director of Internal Medicine and Urgent Care of Yale University before continuing his management career in Delaware as Senior VP for the Christiana Care Health System . Dr. Greenglass's health care interests and expertise include population health, the social determinants of health, and preventative medicine as well as how to make health care more accessible, affordable, and equitable. His experience spans over four decades. A constant learner, his involvement in working for a better global future embraces environmental concerns, including climate change and health, extreme heat, outdoor and indoor air quality, and environmental justice. Instilled in him since childhood is "live to make the world a better place." To that end, he is determined to motivate people to care for their environment.Alan and his wife live in Delaware, and they travel extensively at home and abroad. New Zealand, Iceland, Japan, the Galapagos, Patagonia, and Tanzania are among their recent trips. They have two grown daughters, and two young granddaughters. Other interests include cycling, gardening, and reading. Learning to play the piano is next on his list!
Laskowski, Robert: - -Robert J. Laskowski, MD, MBAPast Chair of the Association of American Medical Colleges Council ofTeaching Hospitals and Health Systems; Chair of the Board of Trustees ofthe University of Vermont Health Network
