Physician leadership within hospitals, health systems and private practice has dropped off in recent years, as growing administrative burdens, burnout and other factors exert added pressure on physicians and discourage them from stepping into leadership roles.
Anthony Lefebvre, MD, a hospitalist in Minneapolis, Minn., told Becker’s that a more organized and robust approach is needed to empower physicians to take on more leadership roles.
“In the past, it was sort of either a ‘tag, you’re it’ and run away, or someone shows interest and then there’s sort of an informal process to help develop that person in leadership,” Dr. Lefebvre said.
Dr. Lefebvre is a part of the Society of Hospital Medicine, which he said is taking the steps to build out the sort of structured leadership training programs he believes are necessary to prepare future physician leaders. The group hosts several days of training each year, with different tracks, all aimed at addressing aspects of hospital and physician leadership that are often lacking in medical school programs.
Seeking connections, avoiding ‘silos’
In his experience, the development of physician leadership also requires “building a team around that person,” he said. “As our healthcare system has gotten more complicated and the pace of change has become more rapid, there’s been a need for clinical insight to help guide that decision-making process within our system and within the healthcare environment in general.”
Dr. Lefebvre’s vision for physician leadership is one that avoids silos, engaging as many young clinicians as possible in committees and other leadership pathways as possible.
“Not only to help make sure change happens because of us, instead of happening to us, but also to give them a taste of what it’s really like to have our view represented across the broad spectrum of issues within the system,” he said. “That really helps wet their appetite for physician leadership.”
Leaning on process, less on ‘heroes’
Succession planning is another core tenet of this approach to physician leadership development, Dr. Lefebvre said. This goes for both executive committees within his hospitalist program, for example, as well as other more formal positions that are supported logistically and financially, so that physicians “can do the job really well and not get burned out.”
“Because that’s what we see often. People end up getting burned out, the system relies on a hero and not a process,” he said. “And we want to get away from relying on heroes and really develop a structure and a process where the group can survive beyond us.”
This shift in approach to physician leadership is necessary, as the organization and demands of healthcare organizations have changed drastically over time.
“Groups were smaller. It wasn’t as formal, as hospitals weren’t as structured as corporate entities as they’ve become,” he said. He added that most hospitals and health systems today function with an overlapping set of leadership structures: One being the medical staff structure, a sort of “legacy” structure built from university training programs, and the other being a more corporate structure.
“It definitely has evolved over time, I think, in a good way, and now that there’s more pathways for physicians to seek formal training programs,” he said. “Whether it’s a master’s in health administration or training courses, coaching or mentorship programs. Those have become much more prevalent, at least in our space, where they weren’t really before.”
This change in the way that leadership is fostered and developed harkens back to the idea that systems often rely on “heroes” rather than processes. By creating and strengthening processes for developing leaders, more peoples’ natural leadership abilities can be recognized and further cultivated.
“There’s so many people that have natural talent and ability with different leadership characteristics that need to be honed a little bit,” Dr. Lefebvre said. “They just need the encouragement, they need to be identified, they need coaching [and] training in a better, more formalized structure.”
