Hospital CEOs Don't Get No Respect...

(This is reposted from LinkedIn.  Good comment by Dr. J. Igbal that I wanted to share.  This guy is the kind of doctor us administrators love! ~ Bob) 

 

TV serials based on Hospitals are dominated by doctors only... 

 

Dear All,
I am writing this specially for non-medicos to provide currect picture of any hospitals around. I was watching TV and found serials based on hospitals showing easy life of doctors and administrators. They are engaged in their personal lives doing nothing.
Doctors on television seem to lead exciting and fulfilling professional lives (their personal lives are disastrous in comparison, but that makes for good TV). Others are neglected. 

There are many people that hear the call to save lives, but not all of them like cutting into people. The hospital administrator plays a vital a role in saving lives, without having to take scalpel in hand. Hospital administrators manage hospitals, outpatient clinics, hospices, and drug-abuse treatment centers. In large hospitals, there may be several administrators, one for each department. In smaller facilities, they oversee the day-to-day operations of all departments. 

 

 The Bradley Center for Psychiatry Administrative Team

circa 2012

Administrators make sure hospitals operate efficiently and provide adequate medical care to patients. Their responsibilities are numerous and sometimes require the assistance of the medical and support staff. They act as liaisons between governing boards, medical staff, and department heads and integrate the activities of all departments so they function as a whole. Following policies set by a governing board of trustees, administrators plan, organize, direct, control and coordinate medical and health services. Administrators recruit, hire, and sometimes train doctors, nurses, interns, and assistant administrators. 

Administrators plan budgets and set rates for health services. In research hospitals, administrators develop and expand programs and services for scientific research and preventive medicine. In teaching hospitals, they aid in the education of new doctors. Administrators plan departmental activities, evaluate doctors and other hospital employees, create and maintain policies, help develop procedures for medical treatments, quality assurance, patient services, and public relations activities such as active participation in fund-raising and community health planning. 

Hospital administrators work long or irregular hours. Hospitals are open round the clock – 24/7 – and administrators may be called in at any hour to make decisions and resolve disputes. Administrators also attend staff meetings, participate in health planning councils, go to fund-raising events, and travel to professional association conventions. 

A hospital administrator’s job is difficult and demanding. They need to keep up with advances in medicine, computerized diagnostic and treatment equipment, data processing technology, government regulations, health insurance changes, and financing options. While doctors strive to keep the blood flowing and the heart beating, the hospital administrator is doing his job in keeping the hospital alive and healthy.
Best Regards,
Dr. Jawed Iqbal

The Science Fair

Many of us with children in school know that this is the time of year for the dreaded “Science Fair.”  Kids who can’t spell “science,” let alone know the difference between an “hypothesis” and a “hippopotamus” are busily building projects and contemplating the universe.  But I found that if I took alittle time working with my mini-scientist, I found some universal truths, as well.

Ten years ago our youngest, Harrison, got very excited about his science project on “buoyancy.”  I’m not quite sure how he picked “buoyancy” as a topic, but he became the family expert on why stuff floats.  He read books on the subject, searched the internet, talked to his siblings, and then seemingly tested every single object in our home to see if it sank.  His enthusiasm and curiosity were contagious and soon all of us were walking around the house, picking up objects and putting them in the kitchen sink to see if they floated.  Car keys?  Sink!  Plastic cup?  Floats!  Cat?  (just kidding…)

I wonder how many of us can get that excited about our “projects” here at work.  The medical field is full of interesting and exciting discoveries, yet it is often all too easy to look at what we do as a “job” rather than an “adventure.”  Albert Einstein once wrote:   “The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing. One cannot help but be in awe when he contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvelous structure of reality. It is enough if one tries merely to comprehend a little of this mystery every day. Never lose a holy curiosity.”

Stay curious about what you do everyday at your hospital, how you do it and the effect you have on others.  What are those techniques or behaviors or experiences that make for “a good day at work”?  What were you doing when you felt you really connected with a patient?  What makes you happy?  What stresses you out?  Stay curious…life is one big experiment.