It is common knowledge to anyone that has tried, that leading physicians is a lot like herding cats. It isn’t easy. Not because physicians are contrary, non “team players” by nature. It is because physicians are trained to be independent thinkers with an ultimate responsibility to their patient like a captain has to his ship. Imagine the scene where you have 6 or 7 seasoned captains of equal seniority on the bridge trying to steer a ship through a hurricane. Now you have an approximate idea of a typical monthly medical staff meeting. But it doesn’t have to be that way!
As physicians we lost our opportunity to control the health care hurricane when President Johnson signed the amendments to the Social Security act in 1965 that created Medicare and Medicaid. Now all that we can do is help navigate the health care ship. Note the word “help”. The decisions are no longer ours alone. We can, should and must be the strongest voice in patient advocacy, but we cannot, should not and dare not presume to dictate the terms of that advocacy.
So what can be done?
The first and best way to advocate is to get involved. Please remember, involved is not the same as walking on the bridge, shouting orders and then keel hauling anyone that doesn’t obey! We have all tried that tactic at one time or another in our physician lives and it doesn’t work any better in the hospital board room than it does at home with the wife and kids.
Involvement is a gentle art. Its essence is one of being connected through participation or association.
This connectedness may present as a simple building of rapport with your hospitals nursing staff to standing for Congressional Election in order to promulgate health care policy. But, no matter the level you choose for your involvement you can expect to be looked upon as a leader if for no other reason than history looks at physicians as such. Unfortunately, that brings us full circle back to the herding cats issue because even though the historical view is “physician leader”, our training for leadership has been from the perspective of “Captain Doctor”.
Fortunately, there are myriad tools available to you that you already possess. These tools can enable you to become the opinion making, consensus building, policy implementing advocate that is called for and looked to in today’s health care hurricane. You are a natural leader. I want to help make you an effective one.
