Physicians Can Benefit from “Happiness Coaching”

by Francine Gaillour on January 27, 2010

in Meet Some "Daring Doctors", Physician as Leader

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An enjoyable article in today’s Wall Street Journal “Happiness Coaching Comes to the Workplace” highlights the value of structured programs (seminars) and coaching to improve the mood and attitudes of workers.  The article features Dr. Ivelisse Rivera, a physician at Community Health Center, Middletown, Conn., who learns the benefits of adjusting her mood and attitude upward.

I have long observed that the mood of physician’s office staff or healthcare team can be easily influenced by the physician leader or doctor in charge.  Furthermore, it doesn’t take much effort to  elevate the mood and attitudes of a team, or conversely to poison the environment with a whiny disposition.

We all lament loss of control in healthcare, but the ONE thing we do have control over is our ability to manage our attitude and elevate each other’s mood.

If you’ve listened to my “7 Practices of Highly Energized Physicians” audio program, you know that one of the 7 Practices is to STOP WHINING.  Positive psychology takes it the next step:  START Elevating the mood of your team.

–Francine

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A Mentoring Guide for Academic Physician Leaders

by Francine Gaillour on January 17, 2010

in Physician as Leader

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If you are an Academic Medicine faculty member, the role of “mentor” is frequently included in your role description.  How do you know whether you are doing that job well? Perhaps your only hint is your frustration that your junior colleagues are not showing the improvement you hoped for.

On the flip side, are you a junior faculty wanting to excel, waiting for a promotion to associate professor, wondering if you’ll ever get the “go-ahead” to run your own research program—and wishing you had a better mentor who could accelerate your career?

This topic has come up a few times in the past few months so I thought I’d provide our Daring Doctors readers with a Mentoring Topics outline I’ve used with physician clients in Academic organizations who are expected to mentor their junior colleagues. [click to continue…]

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Physician Leader of Clinical Process Improvement Highlighted in the New York Times

This week’s New York Times has an excellent article on healthcare improvement.  Specifically they highlight the work at Intermountain Health Care and Dr. Brent James.  I feel fortunate to be an alumni of Dr. James Advanced Training Program in Clinical Process Improvement.  Along with Dr. Don Berwick, I consider Dr. James to be a key [...]

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Attention Physician Leaders: Verizon Study Quantifies Improved Performance From Advanced Collaboration

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The topic of “collaboration” is a big one now, particularly in my work with healthcare organizations implementing advanced EMR technology and CPOE (Computerized Physician Order Entry).  Collaboration can certainly be a throw-away piece of jargon, but it is a proficiency that will be required of medical staffs and groups as they move forward into the [...]

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Sharpen Yourself for Leadership: Three Resources to Consider

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Are you keeping up with the latest ideas being floated in the board room? How are you getting yourself ready for the next level of responsibility? Do you KNOW what that next level IS? I want to share some ideas for how you can “upgrade” yourself this summer with some easy reading.

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When the Going Gets Tough, Physicians Get Creative

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I have been wondering how much the economic down turn will affect healthcare and physicians. It’s hard to know, but one thing I DO know is that you can’t sit by and wring your hands.  As physicians, most of us have the luxury of knowing our medical skills will always be our back-up plan.
But rather [...]

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Arrogant and Disruptive – Doctors Behaving Badly

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Here we go again, bad boy (and girl) doctors causing problems with colleagues AND putting patients at risk.  An article in the December 1, 2008, issue of the New York Times, Arrogant, Abusive and Disruptive–and a Doctor, reminds us once again about an issue that is NOT being addressed well within hospitals and health systems.

var [...]

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Physician, Is “Boldness” Your Next Move?

Over the past three weeks, as we’ve gone through an historic election, a saying from Johann Wolfgang von Goethe kept coming to mind:
Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. 
Sometimes the “next” step for you is not the incremental and cautious, but rather the BOLD and courageous.  Now, I didn’t say “risky.”  Not in the [...]

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What Will be Your Legacy as a Physician?

I’ve heard some physicians wonder out loud if they’re career has been “wasted” – either because they were on a path that wasn’t a good fit, or they spent years focusing on accumulating and worrying, rather than on contributing and enjoying.  The question is one of personal value:  am I measuring up? And by whose [...]

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The Doctor is in Your Car . . . and Your iPod, and on Your TV

I was amused to read the article in today’s Wall Street Journal, The Doctor is in Your Car, highlighting the new 24-hour radio channel, Doctor Radio, on Sirius. The channel features interviews with “real” physicians (not celebrity physicians or broadcasters) and takes calls from consumers who want information or advice.
Doctor Radio is a wonderful [...]

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Physicians with MD, MBA in their future

Here I am with some of the physicians and clinicians enrolled in the Healthcare Executive MBA (HCEMBA) program at UC Irvine’s Paul Merage School of Business.
I was there last week as an invited speaker to lead a workshop, “Career Strategies for Physicians and Healthcare Leaders.” What a great group of people!— and an excellent MBA [...]

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What Direction Can Your Career Take: 5 Ways to Think Big

When my physician clients first come to me for coaching, they often view their career options in one of three ways:  1) they have no idea what their options are, or 2) they have too many ideas and can’t sort them according to what’s realistic or practical, or 3) — and this is the most [...]

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