We call it the SINE WAVE DELUSION and it goes like this:

• Your organization lost money in the last year because of lower patient visit and surgery volumes due to COVID-19. It was a Pandemic Profit Crater.
  
  
• The leadership team cut your support staff in an effort to cut expenses/save money. Keep the ship afloat, weather the storm was the thinking. Mission accomplished, you are still here.
  
  
• Now they expect you to make up the income shortfall by producing higher patient visit volumes and RVU's than ever before, without giving you back the support staff to hit those production targets. Just Spin that Gerbil Wheel Faster! If you can see even more patients with lower staff expense, we will be able to make up last years losses. Come on, you are a team player aren't you?
  
  
• And now doctors are quitting. Burned out and bloodied, many labeled as disruptive. It is the healthiest thing to do for you and your family in many cases.
  
  
• You haven't quit yet - and the thought of abandoning your patients, staff and colleagues keeps you rooted to your current practice, despite these lunatic work expectations.

Just how do you begin a conversation with your senior leadership team about building out a Corporate Physician Wellness Strategy?

What is the best way to bring up the staggering costs of physician burnout and the benefits of a corporate physician wellness strategy -- if your senior leaders are not already engaged in this dialog?

We have supported hundreds of doctors around the world who act as physician wellbeing insurgents in their organization - working hard to get the attention of the C-Suite on the need for a burnout prevention strategy at the level of the organization. 

Learn from our 10 years and over 175 organization experience in these critically important discussions. 

In Physicians On Purpose (POP) Podcast #18...

• Learn how to start the conversation on a level playing field of shared understanding.
• Learn the 3 competitive advantages of physician wellbeing.
• Learn where to get backup and support on HOW to get started on your organizations strategy.

Talking With Senior Leaders about a Corporate Physician Wellness Strategy

Patient Satisfaction should NEVER be 100%

Patient Satisfaction - or the "Patient Experience" is a key quality indicator for organizations and a potential bonus point for the individual physician.

One of the key causes of the modern Physician Burnout epidemic is the state of leadership in healthcare

Let's face it, large organizations that employ hundreds of physicians are a new development in the healthcare industry. The consolidation in healthcare continues, forming larger and larger companies, while the on-the-job-quality of life for the workers continues to deteriorate. 

Over and over again leaders emphasize numbers over mission, meaning, and culture of the group. Add COVID into the mix and it really is a perfect storm. 

• Where did this go off the rails?
• Where can we find new attitudes and new skills to build a healthy healthcare workplace.

In this video Simon Sinek will show you lessons he learned from the Navy Seals that can help all leaders in healthcare.

Lessons about TRUST / PERFORMANCE / TOXIC CULTURES / SOFT SKILLS / THE PETER PRINCIPLE and #PhysicianLeadership.

Check it out and PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT.

Physician leaders understand COVID-19 is a unique type of disaster.

Instead of a POINT crisis and a recovery; like a 

• Tornado / Hurricane
• Flood
• Terrorist attack

... where you get a KaBoom, an acute crisis and a recovery over days to weeks. You know, the kinds of disasters we have drills for, the ones we have code names for.

This pandemic is a series of slow tidal waves, overwhelming everything and everyone for weeks at a time as the wave hits, only to return months later and do it again. 

Sheer fatigue, exhaustion, even a sense of helplessness and hopelessness are common for you and your care team. 

All of us can rally and unite in response to an acute crisis. All hands on deck!

But how do you continue to lead and remain a high performance team for weeks and months on end when the tide of illness refuses to recede?

These 3 Questions for Senior Healthcare Leaders will reveal their opinions on the importance of Physician Wellbeing.

Sometimes it is darn difficult to tell whether your leaders understand and/or care about the stresses you are under.

• The impact of COVID-19 - either blowing up or shutting down your practice.
• The pandemic induced losses of 2020 Q2 forcing you to take a pay cut and laying off your essential support staff.
• The daily death by a thousand EMR clicks and keystrokes.
• The weekly struggle to carve out some meaning from your practice whirlwind and build in some family time and life balance. 

If you can catch your CMO or CEO in a quiet moment, here are three questions that will reveal how they view your professional quality of life.

When the battle against the virus is raging in the ER and the ICU ...

It's all hands on deck
All power to the shields
Throw everything you've got to the front lines

And rightfully so.

That is not enough!

Staffing and supporting the front line care teams is job #1 everywhere and
we can't forget the members of those care teams who are not here today. 

I am not talking about the workers who are simply off shift right now. Let me show you this physician leadership blind spot.

Physician Leadership - Trust vs. Performance on your Teams

Looking to build a high performing team?
Will it have physicians on it?
Let me show you a simple way to build a better team and understand the team's performance - good, bad and ugly.

Here is a video by leadership expert Simon Sinek that reveals how a military elite team picks its members - the Navy Seals. I believe the simple two-part lesson in this video is key to understanding physician behavior on teams as well. 

He asked the question:

"How do you choose people that go on Seal Team 6?"

Let me show you a classic bean counter leadership delusion that is already increasing front-line physician burnout here in the USA.

The Sine Wave Delusion happens when a physician leader does not understand patient care and assumes financial losses can be made up easily if we just spin the doctor hamster wheels faster.