Interpersonal Skills

• ability to connect with people and work together to resolve issues and make progress.

Healthcare is a field that is built on relationships; relationships with patients, relationships with staff members, relationships with hospital administration, insurance companies and vendors.

Physicians who lack the skills to build / maintain trusting, long-lasting relationships:

• Experience higher patient turnover
• Are more at risk for medical malpractice lawsuits
• Experience higher staff turnover
• Experience friction / ongoing issues with hospital administration

Part of the problem lies with "the system" - medical schools don't teach good "bedside manner" to physicians. In addition, many physicians are not taught how to communicate and work cooperatively with their their healthcar staff.

When a doctor's interpersonal and communication skills are as good as his or her technical abilities, the results are good for everyone: better patient outcomes, more patient referrals , lower employee turnover , and better risk management.

Self-Management Skills

Healthcare has become a field that has ever increasing demands on the providers. Increasing demands from managed care, the non-stop hustle of leading a busy practice, revenue constraints, insurance concerns, and more demanding patients create a highly-stressful environment for physicians. To be able to deal with those pressing demands without getting caught in them requires highly developed self-management.

Physicians who lack self-management:

• Will get easily frustrated by small interruptions / changes
• Experience burnout more likely
• Lost control of their lives
• Put more energy into their profession without getting the desired satisfaction.