Why does practicing medicine take a greater toll on women?

Compared to men, women physicians spend more time per patient, documenting electronic medical records, and handling non-professional responsibilities.

As a result, women physicians have higher rates of burnout and depression and lower rates of professional fulfillment.

These findings also shed light on other differences between female and male physicians in the following:

• Alignment: the relationship and shared values physicians have with organizational leadership
• Resilience: the ability to find meaning in work and the ability to re-charge when away from work
• Intent to stay: the likelihood to remain with the organization three years from now

How can we level the playing field?

Organizations must focus on:

Flexibility to meet both professional and personal demands.

Respect strategies for encouraging inclusive workplace culture.

Equitable Advancement Opportunities and Pay reviewing current and new compensation plans to ensure gender pay equity.

Ask yourself, is your practice a good place for women physicians to work?

SCC is committed to ensuring pay equality for all surgeons. We are passionate about educating female physicians in the business of medicine.

Knowledge is power. Know your value.

Learn about fair market value salary and negotiate your worth.

Contact us for a free consultation today.

Source: Why So Many Women Physicians Are Quitting was written by Jessica Dudley, Sarah McLaughlin, and Thomas H. Lee, and published by the Harvard Business Review.

Choosing the right medical practice is difficult. Consider the following when choosing between multiple offers:

1) Define What Really Matters to You

Why are you looking for a new job? What are you looking for in a new position? Consider your wants and needs such as practice setting, practice size, your role within the organization, workplace culture, and location that fit your lifestyle. Understand what really matters to you.

2) Practice Location

3) Culture Fit

4) Practice Philosophy

5) Work/Life Balance

 6) Growth Opportunities

Physicians are in high demand and low supply, which gives you leverage. Find the job that meets your personal and professional aspirations.

Read the full Jackson Physician Search article here.

“Whichever direction you decide to go, choosing a role that is professionally rewarding and personally fulfilling will play a big role in your future level of satisfaction.” 

SCC is committed to helping surgeons find the right fit.

Contact us today to schedule a free consultation.

“In an average year, approximately 6% to 7% of the physician workforce changes jobs or location, meaning approximately 50,000 physicians will accept new positions in 2020 alone. Even in today’s softer recruitment environment in which more doctors are temporarily available, hiring remains a sizeable investment — up to $250,000 for a single candidate when you factor marketing, sign-on bonus, relocation stipend and other expenses. Interview costs alone can total approximately $30,000 per candidate.

It’s also a time-consuming ordeal, requiring 7.3 months on average to fill a family medicine role and 7.9 months for a surgical specialist such as a cardiologist, according to Jackson Physician Search’s Recruitment ROI Calculator. Respectively, those vacancies can lead to $503,000 and $1,607,000 in lost revenue for a medical group.

Demographic trends are contributing to a growing doctor shortage: Some estimates suggest that 30% of the physician population is at or near retirement age. Combine that with the prohibitively large costs involved in training to be a doctor and decades of student loan debt, and we are seeing an ever-increasing void in the specialist community.

As the business of healthcare returns to relative normal, it is the ideal time to resuscitate your physician recruitment process. Searches have decreased as much as 25% to 50% for some healthcare organizations and medical groups. Operational cutbacks and mandates to cancel or delay elective surgeries have meant that overall revenues are down, making recruiting of non-essential employees a lower priority. But essential physicians remain in high demand.”

Read the full article by Tony Stajduhar at MGMA.com

What does this mean for you? You have leverage. Knowing your value means understanding the market.

Contact us for a free consultation.

“The ability for staff members to speak up is critical to team learning, team effectiveness and organizational performance.”

Leaders play a crucial role in creating psychological safety by demonstrating openness and flexibility and developing emotional connections.

More fairness promotes increased psychological safety and trust, which increases feelings of empowerment.

Empowerment promotes excellence and innovation.

Psychological safety, as defined by Amy Edmondson, professor at Harvard Business School, is “a shared belief that the team is safe for interpersonal risk taking.” This definition focuses on the team, rather than the individual.  When the team shares the belief that no one will be punished or humiliated for speaking up with ideas, questions, concerns or mistakes, the work environment is perceived as psychologically safe.

Successful healthcare leaders intentionally create environments where staff feel engaged and empowered. Psychologically safe environments promote a series of beneficial outcomes as individuals and teams learn and adapt together to increase overall performance. Practicing psychologically safe behaviors activates humanness in healthcare.

Humanness can be lost when staff fear

• being rejected or marginalized
• being seen as incompetent or ignorant
• being labeled as negative, disruptive or creating conflict.

When humanness is lost, people fear rejection or negative consequences as a result of speaking up. When humaneness is present, people are more likely to speak up, which prevents errors and improves patient safety.

Types of human exchange prevalent when psychological safety is present in healthcare

• knowledge is readily shared
• questions are easily asked
• help is offered and sought as a regular practice
• errors are readily admitted
• feedback is constantly solicited and openly received

Key outcomes in psychological safe environments

• knowledge sharing
• engagement
• creativity
• innovation
• performance

Leader behaviors that cultivate psychological safety

• be accessible
• invite participation
• display fallibility and acknowledge limits
• highlight failures as learning opportunities
• set boundaries and hold people accountable

Large healthcare organizations, such as the Mayo Clinic, utilize psychological safety as a foundation to success. The Mayo Clinic defines their primary value as the “the needs of the patient come first.” Eight core values make up this primary value: respect, integrity, compassion, healing, teamwork, innovation, excellence and stewardship.

Mayo Clinic Leadership Model Foundations

• Inspiring values
• Engaging colleagues
• Bold and forward thinking
• Driving results

Examples of Activating Humanness in Healthcare

In the operating room, the scrub nurse during the “surgical pause” can raise a question, but it’s how the surgeon responds to that question that creates a safe environment.

In the laboratory, technicians can ensure their colleagues have a voice in creating a standard operating procedure; but if their supervisor relies only on her favorites and their opinions, other technicians will learn it doesn’t matter what they say.

In research, a biostatistician may have the support of her colleagues to inform the principal investigator he lacks sufficient data to take his results to the bedside. The investigator can reject the biostatistician’s viewpoint, and, in turn, limit team members from speaking up in the future

Work environments where physicians can freely express concerns, ideas, and opinions create the best outcomes. Read more at MGMA.com

Are you happy at your current practice or hospital? SCC can help you find your cultural fit.

Contact us for a free consultation.