Question

It's open day on the medical profession. Each week brings more anti-doctor headlines. Many are focusing on the same thing - doctors of all descriptions are overpaid. Someone has done a very good job of shifting the blame for the NHS deficits.

So, in this time of crisis, what coordinated steps are being taken by the profession to restore public confidence? If you hear of one, please let me know.

It's a fundamental problem for the medical profession - it doesn't have any leaders. Sure, each specialty has important figures, but how many members of the public, or MPs for that matter, could name an influential medical leader? I suspect that Robert Winston would win hands down.

The profession has failed to either sell its importance to the public or extend its influence with policy makers. Doctors have been too divided and defensive to respond to the enormous cultural change occurring around them. Until this issue is resolved, the professional standing of doctors will continue to fall.

Ironically, when doctors are thrust into wider leadership roles they often perform superbly. A number of failing hospitals have been turned around by a consultant standing in for a jettisoned chief executive at the eleventh hour - who then quietly slips back to their patients.

This week we profile former surgeon Mark Goldman and now chief executive of Heart of England NHS Trust - one the country's highest performing trusts. He's a new breed of clinical leader that feels he is best placed to meet the health needs of an entire population.

So, how are we going to develop more of these leaders? It starts with acceptance of the problem. Doctors have to embrace management, as highlighted by the Royal College of Physicians recently, realising that it's as important to clinical excellence as good doctors. Then management and leadership skills have to be built into medical training, so the next generation of doctors are empowered to run the service not just deliver it.

Article review

1. What kind of problem is being investigated?

2. Who are the participants (the Executive Leadership team, for example)?

3. What were their challenges that the Executive Leadership faced; how were they overcome?

4. What was the outcome? Was it considered successful or not? Why or why not?

5. Discussion based on your personal experience, knowledge, and skills on Organizational Leadership

Answer 1

1. Crux of the article is Leadership and managerial skill development in medical practitioners is the need of the hour. Doctors can render services to mankind but they should be empowered to run those services. Leaders are not just restricted to politics and Mnagement is not just for business students. Management is the art to administer what you do more effectively and efficiently. The problem with medical society is that the doctors are way too engrossed in studying specialities and servicing the people that they have failed to exert that the medicine profession is the base of any culture and thus commands utmost respect. It is because of the lack of assertive leaders who ensure that the public and the politicians maintain their line of respect and gratitude for the doctors and inturn formulate policies which ensures safety and ease to these professionals.

Thus the article has dug roots for introduction of formal management lessons and leadership skills to ne honed in the doctors right during their medical training. This would develop leaders in this profession to inspire others.

2. All doctors who are undergoing their medical training should be made to take management and leaership lessons to inspire them to not just do service but also administer their medicine service.

3.Challenges were the absence of leaders in the medical profession because of which the profession was fragmented and self centered. Even though doctors form the backbone of any society they are just considered professionals who are paid for what they do and the respect that they should command by virtue of the pious job of saving lives has lost light.

Medical professionals were needed a revolution to change the people's perspective and the way people had started loking at the profession. Doctors lacked leaders to trigger changes in the societie's way of thinking and to inspire policy makers or politicains to formulate policies in favour of their security, their issues. The most optmal solution to overcome these barriers was to impart management lessons to these doctors at the time of their medical training so that leader can be engineered since inception of their profession and medical profession at large will be benefited from these inspired leaders.

4.a training in organisational leadership in medicine profession would ensure that individual doctors have acquired management skills and at the same time their leadership qualities are beneficial for the whole medicine profession. The leader is able to negotiate security, policies, judiciary, al in all be a representative of the doctors in front of the whole society. Someone who will communicate the doctors agenda and will be a great PR who will market the profession. Thus outcome of the management training will definitely be successful for the doctors. Now the fresh batch of medicine students who are getting trained will know administration alongwith their job of treating patients so that they can command respect in the eyes of the society and not be considered just overpaid importatnt workers.