Health care is sales

Health care is all about sales--everyone today in the competitive arena of health care is a salesperson. Your selling days began when you applied to medical school. Your product was yourself, and you worked hard to sell it. That was only the beginning. In your daily work as physician executives, you are selling yourself and your ideas-your ideas about relationships, management structures, partnership issues, merger questions, etc. It's a complicated world, and the concepts are often abstract and difficult. But it is your job to communicate with others to get things done. It is the most important part of your job. It is selling, in fact, at a sophisticated level. How do you communicate and sell yourself and your ideas effectively? Here, some ideas on how to listen and communicate.     

Professionalism is judged by appearances ... like it or not

Exploring the larger subject of executive professionalism should include the whole range of behavior issues that affect others' perceptions of you. In this competitive environment, with limited time to manage relationships, physician executives must take control of all aspects affecting their credibility and communications. This is not to suggest that you become the stereotyped, air-brushed news anchor, all style and little substance, but that you create a total package, one in which the "inside" and the "outside" of your presentation are complementary. Focus your attention on how well you have developed these factors as a physician executive: Appearance; demeanor; professionalism; and integrity. To create a "total package," it is helpful to consider the following recommendations: Write "commercials" for yourself and your organization; use every interaction as a selling opportunity; make every context a platform; don't hide from criticism--seek it out; and use every opportunity that comes your way to listen.     

Global view offers good news for physician executives

Do all physician executives have much "catching up" to do in relation to their non-MD colleagues? A comparison of the role of the physician executive versus the non-MD executive/administrator provides a big picture view and signals new opportunities for physicians in the evolving health care system. Physician executives have only recently become invested in the health care executive suite and are less wedded to old methods and "classic" ideas. They are more likely to be able to adapt to new circumstances, jettisoning traditional approaches that have outlived their usefulness. But each group-physician executives and their MHA- or MBA-credentialed, non-MD colleagues- has much to offer to or learn from the other. By retaining those skills that are applicable, while also adapting the useful characteristics of the "traditional" health care administrator, a physician executive can increase the likelihood of success today.     

Physician leadership. How do physician executives view themselves?

Most physician executives today have acquired substantial management training and experience, and many have worked with and relied on the expertise of mentors for their career guidance and development. Physician executives are actually becoming executives who happen to be physicians. They view themselves first as leaders, then as physicians, and finally as managers. That is a remarkable transformation in perception. To chronicle this process, Witt/Kieffer, Ford, Hadelman & Lloyd conducted a national survey this spring among senior physician executives in both payer and provider organizations. The data provide a "snapshot" of their role, and may also suggest some future scenarios for the industry. The primary reasons for choosing to pursue a management role noted by most participants include a desire to be part of the health care solution and an interest in management and leadership challenges.     

The Family Safety Model: A Comprehensive Strategy For Working With Domestic Violence

There has been continuous debate about the viability, efficacy and appropriateness of providing services to perpetrators and couples where domestic violence is the presenting problem in therapy. This paper argues that within a comprehensive and integrated model of service provision that encompasses all family members, it can be appropriate and effective to incorporate these service options if screening, monitoring and service models are carefully selected and provided in a context of agency safety and support.     

Coaching Family Caregivers to Become Better Problem Solvers When Caring for Persons with Advanced Cancer

Family caregivers of persons with advanced cancer often take on responsibilities that present daunting and complex problems. Serious problems that go unresolved may be burdensome and result in negative outcomes for caregivers’ psychological and physical health and affect the quality of care delivered to the care recipients with cancer, especially at the end of life. Formal problem-solving training approaches have been developed over the past several decades to assist individuals with managing problems faced in daily life. Several of these problem-solving principles and techniques were incorporated into ENABLE (Educate, Nurture, Advise, Before Life End), an “early” palliative care telehealth intervention for individuals diagnosed with advanced cancer and their family caregivers. A hypothetical case resembling the situations of actual caregiver participants in ENABLE that exemplifies the complex problems that caregivers face is presented, followed by presentation of an overview of ENABLE’s problem-solving key principles, techniques, and steps in problem-solving support. Though more research is needed to formally test the use of problem-solving support in social work practice, social workers can easily incorporate these techniques into everyday practice.     

Safer Sex in Later Life: Qualitative Interviews With Older Australians on Their Understandings and Practices of Safer Sex

Rates of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are increasing in older cohorts in Western countries such as Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States, suggesting a need to examine the safer sex knowledge and practices of older people. This article presents findings from 53 qualitative interviews from the study Sex, Age, and Me: A National Study of Sex and Relationships Among Australians Aged 60+. Participants were recruited through an online national survey. We consider how participants understood “safer sex,” the importance of safer sex to them, the safer sex practices they used (and the contexts in which they used them), and the barriers to using safer sex. Older adults had diverse understandings, knowledge, and use of safer sex practices, although participants tended to focus most strongly on condom use. Having safer sex was strongly mediated by relationship context, trust, perceived risk of contracting an STI, concern for personal health, and stigma. Common barriers to safer sex included erectile difficulties, embarrassment, stigma, reduced pleasure, and the lack of a safer sex culture among older people. The data presented have important implications for sexual health policy, practice, and education and health promotion campaigns aimed at improving the sexual health and well-being of older cohorts.