Our Coach+Leader blog helps you have a greater impact on improving care. It offers healthcare leaders sound perspective, road-tested tips and tools that remove unneeded complexities... allowing leaders to focus on what matters most to patients. Every so often we hear about exceptional people doing exceptional things and believe it is important to share these stories with our community. Our friend and physician wellness expert, Randall Levin, MD, F.A.C.E.P. shares our passion about making sure physicians and clinical leaders are well prepared to serve their patients. Dr. Levin and I are equally concerned about the current state of physician satisfaction, engagement and more importantly wellness. As these symptoms worsen due to reform and other contributing factors, it has become more apparent that we as an industry must make physician wellness a priority if we expect to see safety and quality improve. Dr. Levin practiced emergency medicine for 28 years, was a director of an emergency department, and is ACEP's physician wellness editor. Dr. Levin is an expert on physician wellness and we are lucky to have him as a contributor at the Coach+Leader. Please share his insights and solutions with your colleagues.

Brian Wong, MD

Provider/Physician Burnout: Taking The Battle to the Brain

Using Positive Psychology to Improve Engagment and, Ultimately, Patient Care

We all know something has to change. Debates on the direction of the healthcare system and competing approaches to patient care are flying fast and furious around us. Now is the time when we, the people who know patients best, need to be at the top of our game. This will allow us to be participating partners with our physician leaders in helping re-create the patient focus medical environment. A sense of well-being and decreasing burnout goes hand in hand with much needed change. Refocusing from provider survival mode to a role as a facilitator for patient outcomes can not easily occur without the element of wellness among providers and other healthcare team members. However, a recent Medscape survey indicates many of us are not at the top of our game.

39.8%
of responding physicians reported they are burned out

A recent Medscape survey (http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/781161) found 39.8% of all responding physicians were suffering from burnout. The numbers are even more daunting when drilling own in to specialties with Emergency Medicine and Critical Care physicians reporting burnout rates at or above 50%. All the specialities identified in the survey reported burnout levels exceeding 30%. How can we expect to be open to, or craft creative solutions and offer the very best care to others when we struggle so plainly to care for ourselves?




A View of Burnout In Action

Here is a scenario many physicians, especially those in emergency medicine, can no doubt relate to:

It is an overwhelming busy day in the ED. All the rooms are filled with 10 (20, 30, etc) charts of patients who need to be placed into rooms. We are top-bedding admitted patients in our ED, because there are no vacant beds in-house. This top-bedding of patients in the ED, limits freeing beds up for our patients from the waiting room. The waiting room is filled to capacity and we are unable to divert (when an ED is overwhelmed you can divert any further ambulance patients to other open hospitals until the overcrowding resolves) our patients to another hospital due to protocol criteria (if all EDs are diverting then all EDs open up and cannot divert). The staff is overwhelmed and showing signs of stress, being short with colleagues and remaining disconnected from the patients being seen. We cannot "close" to take the pressure off and our lack of resources is causing what systems we had in place to unravel. The next moment I hear the EMS call-in box transmit information concerning a new patient being brought into the department. I think to myself, "Where will I put the patient? How can we safely care for yet another patient?".

I am not the only one wondering as I hear comments from both the medical and nursing staff.

• "I cannot take on another patient, I am overwhelmed."
• "I don't have anymore to give, and "they" (administration) can't expect us to stand for this."
• "If I have to care for another patient, I am going to quit."
  

These statements, clear implications of stress and burnout, framed our mind state and how we perceived the patient the whole day.

This scenario, while extreme, is all too common and illustrates the real hurdles we need to overcome. Too often though, we focus on the external as the only way we could make this scenario different. "We just need more staff." "A few more rooms will solve our problems." While these changes might indeed help to improve things, what do we until we get additional staff or those new rooms? What do we do if those two changes are not enough to make a hectic day like this better? What do we do? We think differently.

Three Ways To Think Differently

Here are three positive psychology approaches that could help us change the scenario not only for ourselves, but our patients as well.

Be Present (Mindfulness)

The scenario above was already a hectic one when the EMS call came. My focus was on my "survival" and became distracted from the patient. When that happened, I was already jumping three steps ahead imagining negative and defeatist implications. The next time you feel the day spinning out of control, stop, and focus on that one patient in front of you or the one you will be seeing next. Give them your whole attention and effort. Reconnect to your empathy and compassion if you are sensing a disconnect.

Maintain Perspective

In the scenario above, I and all the staff around me were focused on what we were feeling and what we wanted. We had lost sight of the person and purpose we were there to serve. Stop, and review your posture, attitude, and approach. Now imagine you were the patient, scared and frustrated, about to be attended by someone in your current mindset. Putting our concerns in the broader context, can help us to connect with our patients and support mindfullness.

Be Flexible

Too often a response to stress is to default to the familiar. If your familiar is an environment where over 30% (or more) of your colleagues are burned out and disconnected, you may be defaulting to a position that will not provide you or your patient with positive returns. Stop, take a deep breath and ask yourself if you could approach your scenario differently. Take it one step further, ask someone else. Take it one more step, and ask someone you don't normally speak to. Taking a moment to open yourself up to alternative ideas or options, could result in a new successful path, providing you and your patients with a more positive experience.

These suggestions are not a panacea, nor are they the only options available to us. But I can truly state that my mindset was changed and my body language was more of an anticipatory "thank you" for the patient – thank you for allowing me to be there for you and use both my didactic medical knowledge and skills, along with my empathy and compassion. I could again focus on the patient (and not on how was I going to survive). It was not about having to be a "hero", but how to be a human being helping another human being.

I have adapted these ideas from concepts explored by Neil Farber, MD, PhD. His series on Positive Psychology offers an invaluable overview of more techniques and approaches to incorporate positive psychology into your practice and into your life. You can learn more about this series http://www.mtmi.net/courses/PosPsy.php. Burnout is real and it's ability to blind us from how we and why we practice medicine is powerful. Using a new way of thinking we can start to take those blinders off and smother the flames of burnout.

Dr. Randall Levin, MD, F.A.C.E.P.

Director for Physician Education - Medical Technology Management Institute, a continuing education division of Herzing University

• ACEP Wellness Section Newsletter Editor
• Practiced Emergency Medicine for 28 years
• Past Director of Emergency Department - Aurora West Allis Medical Center
• Past Member of Executive Committee - Aurora West Allis Medical Center

Tip 18: If doctors are afraid to speak up who will?

If doctors are afraid to speak up who will?

In her recent New Your Times article, "Afraid to Speak Up to Medical Power", Pauline Chen, MD discussed her personal experience in dealing with the all too common unsafe medical hierarchy that is endemic of our current healthcare culture. I'm glad to see such well respected physicians confronting these "old rules" that have such a profound impact on patient safety.

Dr. Chen shared how when the hospital where she worked, hired a "Rising superstar in the world of oncology, a brilliant physician-researcher who had helped discover treatments for other cancers and who had been recruited to lead our hospital's then lackluster cancer center...", none of the incumbent medical staff felt comfortable challenging anything he said. Even the "Number 2" doctor on staff was afraid to throw in his two cents when he felt we was witnessing the wrong treatment for a patient. Long story short, due to an invisible, unspoken, fear driven medical hierarchy, two physicians who had more intimate knowledge of the patient than the new "superstar" kept quiet while suboptimal treatment was given causing a patient to die.

Dr. Chen cited a recent New England Journal of Medicine article, "Speaking Up — When Doctors Navigate Medical Hierarchy" by Ranjana Srivastava, F.R.A.C.P. which equally demonstrated this fear-based hierarchy through the eyes of a Medical Oncologist who was handed a patient from a resident. The patient was scheduled for surgery just a few hours after the physician made his courtesy call. He found the patient, "Scrunched up in bed, tossing and turning, his sheets tangled between his legs. He's pale and uncomfortable, licking his lips, his IV fluids having run out. My immediate impression is that he's dying. But I remind myself that he's scheduled for surgery." After conversing with the patient, the Oncologist felt sure that the patient wouldn't survive a surgery. But in this particular hierarchy, the surgeon was king and very few (if any) would question him. So when the surgeon showed up ready to proceed, the Oncologist figured he knew what he was doing, so he kept his mouth shut. And although the patient survived the surgery, he died shortly after. 

Afterward, (better late than never), he spoke to the surgeon about it, and the surgeon admitted that he would like to be told if he was perceived as inadvertently harming his patient. But the Oncologist couldn't have known that since the medical hierarchy has always been there... and has always been present in every hospital he'd worked in.

The two agreed to be more open and sharing in the future... just not soon enough for this patient.

You would think that physicians intervening with each other to help treat a patient, and especially to save a life, would be a given. Sadly it's the exception and medical hierarchies like these have proven to be a significant contributor to unsafe cultures. Almost all physician you and I know have experienced similar situations. I rarely meet a physician who doesn't have his or her own poignant story to tell me about an unsafe conversation with another doctor that led to suboptimal care.

It's the right time for Dr. Chen and Dr. Srivastava to be voicing their concern on the issue as many suggest the symptoms are getting worse. When I began writing my book, "Heroes Need Not Apply", two years ago, it was clear that this challenge was becoming more pronounced, as healthcare reform places greater emphasis on providers working as integrated teams to improve quality, create efficiencies and reduce cost. Understanding that the severity and frequency of these unsafe exchanges has nowhere to go but up, my book takes a close look at the key factors that produce unsafe medical hierarchies and what we as medical community must do about it. Now that the book is set to be published this Summer, I'm hoping that this story and the leadership of physicians like Dr. Chen and Dr. Srivastava, can offer a new template for how we physicians interact, as there is no room for these medical hierarchies in these new care models.

Like most cultural challenges we face, medical hierarchies and the "old rules" that follow are steeped in medical training and can't be resolved with a checklist or confronted with punitive approaches. If we physicians are to prevent unsafe conversations, we're going to need to replace the template for how we interact. Consider our current context, a template for interaction that celebrates individual expertise, credentials and honors. In other words, a culture that rewards and recognizes individual heroic effort with little emphasis on peer coaching, physician collaboration,and clinical teamwork.

18 Tip: How to defuse a medical hierarchy in 5 seconds or less.

Medical hierarchies often create conditions that allow extraordinary power to be given to extraordinary physicians. These physicians are highly accomplished, have numerous credits to their name, and get excellent results. Physicians like Dr. Chen and myself operate within this hierarchical context, assuming that because they are the best at what they do, they must know what's best for the patient. This is the most costly (and incorrect) assumption we make,and it's ultimately shortchanging our patients. As we formulate assumptions like these, our "superstar physicians" become dangerously unapproachable, resulting in a system with fewer checks and balances. Simply said, we begin to rely too heavily on the smartest person in the room and minimize collaboration, which hinders patent-centered exchanges.

Keep in mind that incompetence is rarely the issue, as in most cases, our "superstar" specialist in question is often administering the right treatment for the condition. However, in many of the cases I've consulted on, similar to that of Dr. Chen and Dr. Srivastava, the lead physicians often become too focused on treating the disease without considering the human factors that matter most to the patient and influence outcomes. These physicians report getting fixated on the medical response while minimizing the concerns of the patient and/or another physician.

So what is the answer to defusing medical hierarchy? And how do we create a zone of safety and improve physician collaboration?The answer to this safety challenge is simpler than the average checklist and resides with just one question: "What matters most to the patient?"

I can tell you from the experience of working with hundreds of physicians, this question is 99 percent effective at disabling and preventing harmful conversations. Why is it such an effective coaching tool? Patient-centered questions like this help physicians navigate the power differential by putting the focus on patient concerns and helping the team review the medical response in a more thoughtful way. It sends the signal to all those "superstars" out there that your not competing for the smartest guy in the room award or telling the other guy, "I know something you don't".
We don't need hero physicians. We need team players and coaches.

Email me or share your thoughts on our Facebook page.

---

WHAT'S NEW @ THE BEDSIDE TRUST

Dr. Brian Wong's highly anticipated book,'HEROES NEED NOT APPLY' releases this spring.

Listen to Dr. Wong as he discusses Heroes Need Not Apply: A Unique View on Accountable Culture Click here to listen>>

Check out the new video interview with Brian Wong, M.D.

to access Dr. Wong's Q&A as he discusses "Heroes Need Not Apply," Click here>>

Exclusive Q&A interview with Brian Wong, MD

Join us for an exclusive Q&A interview

with Brian Wong, MD: Author of the soon to be released book Heroes Need Not Apply

WHEN: April 24th, 2013
1:00PM EST (10:00AM PST)
We'll keep it short for you, 20 minutes.



WHAT: Dr. Brian Wong will be answering your questions regarding specific accountability challenges at your hospital on a conference call interview moderated by Sierra Weese of Innovative Healthcare Speakers

Please email your question to Sierra by April 22nd, and Dr. Wong will respond to as many as possible during our interview. Join us for a rare opportunity to pick the brain of one of the country's foremost healthcare culture experts on April 24th.

HOW: Conference call in info -- 1 (877) 365-2980
Participant Code: 1332 (A reminder email will be sent prior to the interview.)
There is no charge to connect to this call. Call-in space is limited.

Everyone in healthcare knows the lack of accountability negatively impacts care, and when accountability improves throughout your organization, care improves. What healthcare leaders didn't know until now, was how to improve accountability and why it is so critically linked to improving patient care. Knowing that every hospital has its own specific accountability challenges, Innovative Healthcare Speakers would like to give you the opportunity to get some of your challenges addressed.

Learn more about Brian Wong, MD
Speaking Engagements
Fees & Pricing
Heroes Need Not Apply
About the Book
Email your questions

Speaking Engagements:
Innovative Healthcare Speakers brings you the opportunity to schedule your next speaking engagement, keynote, workshop or retreat with Brian Wong, M.D., author of his soon-to-be published book by Second River Healthcare Press, Heroes Need Not Apply: How to build a patient accountable culture without putting more on your plate.

Dr. Wong's interactive speaking programs bring the book's key tools and concepts directly to his audiences, where they experience the process of taking the first steps toward having a patient accountable culture in their organizations.

As a highly respected speaker and consultant nationwide, the compelling subject matter of his soon-to-release book is leading to increased demand on the speaker/facilitator circuit. Contact Sierra Weese to book him for your upcoming meeting or event.

Innovative Healthcare Speakers is 100% dedicated to providing the healthcare industry with nationally recognized speakers who provide innovative solutions to problems, issues, trends and instabilities affecting healthcare today and tomorrow. We work with any client that is in need of a speaker to address a healthcare topic.

SWeese@InnovativeHealthcareSpeakers.com
(406) 586-8775 8AM-5PM MST

Tip 17: How does it feel to operate in the dark?

How does it feel to operate in the dark?

We wouldn't expect our surgeons to do it, so why would we set up our team members to? Although this sounds extreme, it's a day-to-day reality for many.

Exhibit A: "Just what is a physician leader?"

I started to share this story with you in our last issue of Coach Leader. This question was asked by a physician executive at a medical staff retreat I recently facilitated, which led to a number of physicians in the group suggesting that they weren't sure what the board and administration was asking of them when it comes to physician leadership. One physician said, "We hear this all the time, but I don't see what all this has to do with improving quality." Another stated, "I just don't know why we're doing this."

It's not just this group of doctors that find difficulty in connecting this expanded responsibility of physician leadership to their primary job of caring for patients. It's quite clear that our current context for physician leadership needs to be addressed throughout the industry. While we've discussed physician leadership in-depth in past issues and will continue to define it, it's worth pointing out that this confusion or "lack of context", is the source of accountability challenges reported by many of the organizations we hear from. 

If organizations are serious about experiencing physician leadership, improving patient accountability and strengthening their relationship with their medical staff, we must first start by addressing our "lack of context".  This goes for nurses, staff and administration throughout your organization, because these team members are not immune to this industry wide context deficit. We see and hear just as many questions and comments from staff indicating confusion and insufficient information related to the need for role design:

"I'm just not sure if they know what they're asking us to do?"

"How can they could expect any more from us...they just don't understand what we're up against!"

"That's not my patient."

"That's not my job."

Why should questions and comments like these stop leaders in their tracks? Because these team members are signaling that they are overwhelmed and unaware. They currently operate under a context based solely on their individual jobs. And when your current context is based on job alone, it directs a patient experience that can be best described as "every man for himself". This is a mindset many of us are all too familiar with, and a sure sign that our people are operating in the dark, unable to fully contribute toward raising the level of overall organizational performance.

Where does insufficient context come from and why is it compromising our ability to work more effectively for our patients? It's a bit ironic that in our content over context world, we are missing the key pieces of information that help us identify our role and relate it to a bigger team oriented picture. Consider the workplace environment and how each of us is bombarded daily with overwhelming amounts of content; rigorous continued education, staying up to date with new technology, more and more metrics to track, etc. With all the emphasis on content we begin to lose sight of how it all fits together – context. And so in a content over context workplace, it's quite reasonable that many of us are beginning to ask for more context as we attempt to sift through piles of content and distill what matters most. This directly leads us back to the question, "What does physician leadership have to do with improving care?" And it's why our people are quietly asking these context oriented questions and seeking a more definitive purpose and role.

One things for sure, insufficient context will lead to incorrect assumptions. The most costly assumption we find organizations making is one of defining job and not role. When team members lack context for their role, it limits the degree to which individuals invest in team and organization. We have assumed that because individuals (physicians, nurses, therapists, etc.) are skilled at their jobs, they must understand their team role needed to contribute to the greater mission of the organization. While our individual jobs are necessary for establishing context to identify specific tasks and actions, our jobs alone are insufficient for aligning and engaging the hearts and minds of individuals and teams to contribute to shared purpose... to improve care. If we are going to give rise to context and help our team gain needed perspective of their role, we must start thinking like a coach.

Tip 17: Coaching for Context:

Several months ago we set out to challenge some of our current assumptions about leadership and give rise to new context for healthcare leaders that improves our ability to serve our team and our patients. The goal was quite simple... take some of the unnecessary complexity and mystery out of what being a leader in healthcare really means. Understanding that if healthcare leaders we're a bit more clear on what mattered most to their team, we'd have an easier time focusing our efforts and emphasizing tools that have the most impact on helping them care for patients.

Two issues ago, I shared the personal mission statement of my upcoming book's main character, which is based on attributes of the talented leaders I've worked with throughout my career. This mission statement is in essence an extension of our T.R.U.S.T.E.D. model for improving patient accountability that many of you are familiar with. If you haven't yet had the opportunity to review it allow me to share a few pertinent highlights:

"YOU as a leader have the most impact on care because you help others see the role they play, not because you're better at your job."

"YOU know that a good team needs a good coach and that's what you are."

If we've been successful at anything, we've made the case that to be an effective healthcare leader – providing what matters most to our team and patients – you must be an effective coach.

While many skills and competencies contribute to becoming an effective Coach Leader, simply observing is one of the most fundamental. Yogi Berra said, "You can observe a lot just by watching." I would add that you can learn a lot just by observing. Just as a physician must utilize observation as a key tool to acquire knowledge about a patient; coaches benefit from simple observation and use that intelligence to more effectively  diagnose organizational problems.

Coaches are well positioned to observe the subtle signs, actions and behaviors guided by our teams current context. Chris Osborn, a noted expert on coaching and President of Coach Training Alliance, emphasizes that coaching is a co-creative process that leverages the building of awareness and context. He suggests that following coaching's simple steps can create new behaviors based on what is observed. As Chris says "There is no more powerful process to lead people to greater outcomes." Like all Coach Leaders we work with, observing becomes an essential tool for seeing the questions and comments that demonstrate the need for context. Like all great coaches, you'll quickly discover just how essential setting context is for improved team performance. Lucky for us, coaching doesn't require us to have all the answers; our strength as a Coach Leader relies on tools like observing and asking questions. These are the only tools that will help us lead our teams out of the dark and help to set a more relevant context for them and the patient.

Coach+Leader will be on Spring Break later this month and will return April 10th. We look forward to getting your feedback on how these coaching tips are working for you.

Email me or share your thoughts on our Facebook page.

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WHAT'S NEW @ THE BEDSIDE TRUST

Dr. Brian Wong's highly anticipated book,'HEROES NEED NOT APPLY' releases this spring.

Listen to Dr. Wong as he discusses Heroes Need Not Apply: A Unique View on Accountable Culture Click here to listen>>

Check out the new video interview with Brian Wong, M.D.

to access Dr. Wong's Q&A as he discusses "Heroes Need Not Apply," Click here>>

Tip 16: Get to know the silent killer of accountability

Get to know the silent killer of accountability

Our industry likes to use the phrase "silent killer" to refer to health conditions like hypertension, because there are often few noticeable symptoms associated with this dangerous condition that affects millions globally. High blood pressure is a slow killer, wreaking havoc on the body with acute manifestations such as stroke and heart
failure– which present many years after a persistent elevation in blood pressure first appears.

As in the case of hypertension, the "silent killer" for healthcare overall is also often invisible - and it leads us all to a state of "hyper-tension" We call this condition a "lack of context," and it is the root cause of unnecessary complexity and frustration in many organizations.

For a moment, consider that you're a passenger on a plane. The pilot announces that he has good news and bad news: the good news is that they are ahead of schedule; the bad news is that he doesn't know where they are heading. Sounds ridiculous if you're the passenger— but quite a reality for a lot of physicians, nurses and managers I meet working in healthcare.

We're all asked to work extremely hard at our jobs, but few fully understand how their role contributes to the team and the overall strategic direction of the organization. We have plenty of context for the many different jobs each of us is hired to do, but we lack context for the role we must assume together, to deliver quality team care consistently. A team without sufficient context has become our "silent killer" in that it creates conditions which lead to diminished accountability, and over time, manifests in ways that harms patients, including: 

• physician disengagement
• employee dissatisfaction
• disruptive behavior
• ineffective team and patient communication
• low morale
• high turnover

The true causes of these symptoms often go unnoticed or misdiagnosed, and the compounding affects can have a tremendous drag on organizational performance.
It's quite easy to see how these organizational symptoms have become commonplace in our industry. We must look at our organizations like we do our patients, and treat the root cause of the condition instead of each of its many symptoms. Come to think of it... I don't know any leader and/or organization that has been successful at eliminating these symptoms by treating them independently, nor do we have the time and resources to treat these symptoms in isolation.

Tip 16: Killed by a lack of context and it was his own damn fault

The good news... it's entirely preventable, treatable and reversible when leaders learn how to recognize the subtle signs this condition produces. Diagnosing this condition is easy if you know what to look for. And you may not need to look any further than your next team meeting. In a recent medical staff retreat I facilitated, a physician blurted out with frustration, "Just what is a physician leader?"

He's not the first doctor to ask this. In fact, this question has become quite common in our content-over-context world. I'm sure physicians at your organization ask similar questions. But is anyone listening to them?

Why would a surgeon that happens to be a physician executive not know the answer to a seemingly obvious question? How could such a silly little question bring a room of 70 physicians to a screeching halt. Would you be surprised if I told that not one of these physicians jumped in to offer an answer? No wise guy suggested he read the leadership training manual in the doctor's lounge, nor did they communicate that the question wasn't relevant to doctors' needs. None of his peers looked surprised and/or embarrassed that one of their own leaders would ask such a silly little question. Why do we assume any leader in the organization should have the answer?

What makes this particular question insightful yet terribly concerning, is that we are asking this medical staff to perform in a role that they do not clearly understand. The question itself indicates confusion and frustration around the role we are asking them to play. The "physician leader" question comes as a clear disconnect in the current context of what a physician is and does. As a coach, I see this as nothing more than an appeal for clarity and the opportunity to help this team make these connections and set new context.

In this particular case, a simple "lack of context" caused mass meeting confusion that led to momentary inactivity, reduced productivity, increased social discomfort, reduction in communication and generalized anxiety.

But the question we leaders should be asking is: If this is what a lack of context can do to a medical staff of 70 in a comfortable hotel meeting room, just how much pain is it causing on the floors of my hospital?

This generalized condition is not limited to this medical staff retreat, a segment of providers, or a particular type of hospital. Like hypertension "lack of context" can affect everyone. It can be observed daily in doctor-to-doctor consults, team discussions at the bedside, board meetings, etc., and it's remarkable at producing ineffective conversations inhibiting our ability to perform for the patient.

Now that we are all aware of this condition, let's get used to spotting the subtle signs we have become accustom to overlooking... like when we hear, "but that's not my patient," and "I wish she would just do her job."

As Yogi Berra said, "We're lost, but we're making good time." The point is... context matters and your patients lives are at stake when your team doesn't have it. Tune in next time as we take a closer look at how leaders can coach their teams and bring about the context we, and our patients, all desperately need.

Email me or share your thoughts on our Facebook page.

---

WHAT'S NEW @ THE BEDSIDE TRUST

Dr. Brian Wong's highly anticipated book,'HEROES NEED NOT APPLY' releases this spring.

Listen to Dr. Wong as he discusses Heroes Need Not Apply: A Unique View on Accountable Culture Click here to listen>>

Check out the new video interview with Brian Wong, M.D.

to access Dr. Wong's Q&A as he discusses "Heroes Need Not Apply," Click here>>

Bedside Trust and Coach Training Alliance form partnership

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Seattle, Washington, March 5, 2013/PR Newswire/-- The Bedside Trust, a nationally recognized healthcare consultancy specializing in medical leadership and building Patient Accountable Cultures for healthcare systems is pleased to announce they have selected Coach Training Alliance (CTA) as a strategic education partner. This partnership enables The Bedside Trust and CTA to equip a greater number of physicians, nursing and clinical leaders with essential coaching tools required for improved patient experience and quality of care. This collaboration is in response to a growing need for medical leadership, most notably physicians, to focus on the coaching specific leadership skills that have become increasingly relevant to improving team and organizational performance.

"Our medical leadership solutions have always emphasized coaching tools to ensure physicians, nurses and other clinical leaders are best positioned to lead teams and have the most impact on care", notes Brian Wong, M.D., CEO of The Bedside Trust. "Our partnership with CTA, deepens our commitment to helping our current clients and leaders in our industry become more adept at coaching." Dr. Wong cited that CTA's executive team and faculty were uniquely qualified for healthcare. CTA's CEO, Chis Osborn, is the current Vice Chair of UC Health and is the Past Chair of Poudre Valley Health System. Dave Kruger, M.D., serves as the Dean of Curriculum for CTA, and is a former a Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Baylor College of Medicine.

"Brian Wong, M.D. added, "We are encouraged that more hospital systems are realizing the benefits of coaching education as a core component of their physician and nursing leadership solutions. Having spent over 30 years as a physician and medical director the most important leadership lessons I've learned is that patients expect us to work as teams, today's care teams need us to lead as coaches of a team, and together the Bedside Trust and CTA are providing the coaching abilities our hospitals and patients require.

Chris Osborn, CEO of CTA added, "There is arguably no industry that faces as much fundamental and structural change as healthcare in the coming decade. Working with Bedside Trust provides us an opportunity to make this change more effective, more transparent and ultimately more human for the patients whose care is at the center of what everyone hopes to achieve.  The application of core coaching skills by medical leaders will ensure higher levels of engagement, communication and adaption providing not only higher levels of quality care but a higher appreciation for that care by the patient. Ultimately, we are talking about unleashing the capability of teams to save lives and raise the bar for patient centered care.  Coaching skills have been noticeably absent to the patient centered care discussion and application- we look to change that."

"We are excited to be working with The Bedside Trust and innovating the coaching solutions that clinical leaders need to focus on their role as coaches. As physicians, Dr. Wong and myself, have a first-hand understanding of the expanded role physicians and clinical leaders are being asked to play to improve care daily. By incorporating the tools, methods, and principles of coaching into their practice, healthcare professionals are better equipped to collaborate with their colleagues, lead staff more effectively and deliver higher quality care without adding more to their already full workload.

Together, The Bedside Trust and CTA are offering a series of coaching tools that provide medical leadership with essential and practical coaching education specifically designed to improve leadership effectiveness and generate substantial patient value.

For more information please contact: Jonathan Long - Managing Partner, The Bedside Trust at by email at bedsidetrust@me.com or by phone at 206-619-8088

About Coach Training Alliance

Coach Training Alliance is a global leader in coach and leadership training and proud to be leading change in the healthcare with its Medical Leadership education programs.   CTA has trained and certified over 6,500 coaches in 13 countries over the last twelve years using its ICF credentialed, distance delivered model of co-creative change.  Coach Training Alliance is a collection of the finest educators, mentors, coaches, and facilitators in the profession of coaching. Over the last decade CTA have assembled a team of proven faculty that are today the leaders in their fields.  CTA offers a full range of coach training curriculums including Human Capital Coaching, Certified Coach Program, Social and Emotional Intelligence education programs.

For more information regarding CTA please call (303) 991 0388 ext 4. and/or visit their website at www.coachtrainingalliance.com

Tip 15: Your personal mission...

Your personal mission...

YOU may or may not be the CEO, but your leadership permeates all levels of the organization.

YOU are a leader that has the most impact on care not because you are better at your job, but because you help others see the role they can play to improve care.

YOU are respected by your peers not because you have all the answers, but by the questions you ask that ensure patient centered decisions.

YOUR conversations result in a perspective that others value, and your actions make teamwork possible.

YOU are not interested in people following or being accountable to you, but insist everyone is accountable to the patient.

YOU know that a good team needs a good coach and that's what you are.

YOUR ability to connect and build trusting relationships throughout your team is a core competency that reaches each and every patient.

YOUR chief objective is to create change that benefits all patients.

YOU know that change is contingent on providing context to others, and for each problem you help solve, you play a central role in creating a shared perspective that empowers your team to act.

YOUR leadership practice is easy for your team to emulate because its based on what matters most to patients.

YOU inquire, listen, and take the time to understand what challenges others, and offer clarity and set direction to discover each issue's root cause.

YOU are always open to alternative views, yet you guide decision making and influence others by putting what matters most to patients as the starting point of every solution.

YOU know that coaching your team to align their roles based on what matters most to patients is the only way to create a Patient Accountable Culture.

Tip 15: The context you need to lead

The list above isn't a work of fiction or a description of some fictional hero. It's a description of a healthcare leader like you, that answered the question, "What business am I in?" This answer is for all of us and offers the context we need as leaders to ensure we have the most impact on our patients. I originally wrote this description to help create a character in my book "Heroes Need Not Apply". It's simply a culmination of common wisdom and attributes that I see in a lot of the leaders I have the privilege to work with each and every day. I hope listing out all of these positive attributes on one page helps to give you the clarity needed to bring these attributes out in you.

We're in the business of giving patients what matters to them, and as leaders, helping our staffs to bring patient accountability into all of their decisions. Consider reading it again, take all of it or just part of it, make it your personal mission statement, etc... Not because I'm asking you to follow it, but because your patients are.

Email me or share your thoughts on our Facebook page.

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WHAT'S NEW @ THE BEDSIDE TRUST

Dr. Brian Wong's highly anticipated book,'HEROES NEED NOT APPLY' releases this spring.

Join us for an insightful "first look" conversation on The Leadership Focus Radio Show on February 20, 2013.Click here for info >>

Check out the new video interview with Brian Wong, M.D.

to access Dr. Wong's Q&A as he discusses "Heroes Need Not Apply," Click here>>