By Dr. Edward L.G. Hardy, MD, FRCPC.
I have had some questions about the Physician Leadership Toolkit about what it is, and who should use it. I am biased but feel this is an amazing, evolving resource for anyone in leadership. It is NOT just for physicians, although it is geared to medical professionals; it is really for anyone to use.
I started in Vernon in 1999, and was immediately thrown into the position of Department Head of Medicine, as the most junior person. This was rather traditional, fairly common at smaller sites, because NO ONE wanted to be, or wants to be, Department Head. I had no leadership training, and did not excel…….actually I sucked at it.
I then stepped into the role of Vice President of VJH Medical Staff for a few years, then served as President from 2008 – 2014, during the time of the planning and construction of the Polson Tower expansion. I took some leadership courses during that time, learned about my personality (scary), and gained a lot of experience with the politics of medical staff, health authorities (I work in both Interior Health and BC Cancer), and provincial politics.
In 2014 I stepped into the position of Chair of the Local VJH Medical Advisory Committee (LMAC). For those not in medical roles, this is the committee where department heads and administration meet, recruitment for departments is planned/approved, disciplinary matters are discussed, privileging is approved, staff bylaws are discussed, and new protocols are either brought down from the Health Authority to be discussed and approved or moved from development on site (Medical Quality Management/Pharmacy & Therapeutics) up to the regional MAC and ultimately to the health authority Board. The MAC has changed over the years, with less local power, but still performs a vital role.
I am hoping to step down shortly if I can find a replacement, but in my years as LMAC chair, the total LACK of training for department heads and medical leadership has been a constant thorn in my side. It is a struggle to find people to step into department head roles, and to keep them. For a long time, these were unpaid positions, which didn’t help, but even with a stipend now (sometimes insultingly low for the size of a department) it has been a challenge. Physicians are well trained in medical school and residency in how to be doctors, but there is still little training in how to be a leader. Physicians are busy, and there is little time to devote to leadership training, unless individual docs are particularly interested. There are of course courses, like Sauder, or getting an MBA, but these take a lot of time and are costly, and most do not feel it is worthwhile for a role they don’t even want.
I have concluded that most people are not interested in medical leadership because there is no training in it, and it is therefore viewed as an unpleasant chore, unfamiliar territory, and no guidance on how to do it.
For years, I and others in medical leadership locally have felt that there needs to be training offered, but this has not been set up by the health authorities. As well, since physicians are busy, having a “three day leadership intensive” is not well received by most since most don’t have the time, or want to do it. Furthermore, an increasing number of physicians are not affiliated with the hospital, just being community based, but they still need the skills and are not eligible for funded training.
I am well overdue for sabbatical, but felt if I ever did get the time, I would want to work on a “Leadership Toolkit” which would be a one stop shop for all sorts of information, like how to run a meeting, should this meeting even be a meeting, how to take minutes at a meeting, how to handle disciplinary actions, how to…………. and that this would be something that could be done from anywhere, at any time.
Many others locally felt the same way, particularly Dr Andrew Sellars, our local Medical Director, Dr Kira McClellan, head of Family Practice and the medical staff association, and Maja Keast, who for years was Medical Staff Secretary here in Vernon and had the pleasure of dealing with unhappy untrained department heads. If it were not for these brilliant and dedicated people, I would still be complaining about the lack of a training tool and nothing would have happened because, no time.
Dr Sellars was able to obtain funding for the toolkit through a NAVIG8 project, and Maja was hired by the Facility Engagement Committee/Medical Staff Association to do the really hard work. She took our various ideas, and did a ton of research into leadership training other organizations have done, curated content, and then we all met to critique it and organize it. We wanted this information to be freely available, a living and changing document. We did not want this toolkit to be part of any one health authority website, since those are behind firewalls, and usually require privileges in the health authority to be granted access, which restricts who can see the content, and where they can access it from.
Dr. McClellan in the meantime (besides running her family, her practice, being president of medical staff, and working on the toolkit) was also working on her own brainchild NAVIG8 project, the Physician Waffle House, designed as a web-based platform for physicians or other healthcare staff to meet, share ideas, post recruitment ads, etc. This has proven to be an amazing design, and is a great vehicle for the leadership tool kit.
I freely admit that although I have envisioned some sort of leadership training kit, without the hard work, vision and dedication of these individuals and others on the committee, this would still just be a complaint in my head.
I would encourage EVERYONE to look at the Physician Waffle House website, create a free account, and look around.
Under the “LEARN” link you will see the leadership toolkit, which has something for literally everyone. We have all sat through badly run meetings (I have run some of them 😀 ) or walked out of meetings saying, “that is an hour I won’t get back, couldn’t that have been an email?”, and most have had to have a difficult conversation with someone at work. There is information on credentialing, department head 101, as well as a directory for our health authority of who is who, and who does what. We do not claim that this Toolkit is the be-all and end-all, and we have pulled (with permission) information and useful links from all sorts of other sites that have done some of this in the past. This is a living site, so will be updated as need be. We hope though that this will take some of the FEAR out of those facing a leadership position for the first time (running an office counts) and maybe encourage some to dig deeper, learn more, and perhaps make a career of leadership.
Lastly, as a plug for Maja Keast, without her this Toolkit would not have come together or looked anywhere near as good. If you are looking for a hands-on, intelligent dedicated project lead, (and we haven’t got her already hired for something else) shoot her an email at maja@vernonphysiciansociety.ca
ENJOY!