A Practicing Surgeon Dissects Issues in Physician--Hospital Relations (Physician Relations) (Column‪)‬

I presume that I do not need to write about the rationale for improving physician relations. Although, publicly, healthcare leaders tell me that they serve at the pleasure of the board, privately, they tell me that they serve at the pleasure of the medical staff as well. At an ACHE seminar I led in 2005, "Practical Strategies for Engaging Physicians," one hospital CEO confided: "If I have a problem with my board, I can resolve it. But if I have a problem with doctors and they tell other influential doctors, I better dust off my resume." Physicians resemble university professors in that their allegiance goes first to their subject matter, second to their colleagues, and lastly (and distantly) to their workplace (Cohn 2008a). Physicians are trained differently from healthcare administrators. However, if physicians are treated as adults, they behave as adults, a prerequisite for improving physician relations. As Dr. Bujak (2008) argues, when physicians see that supporting the goals of a healthcare organization serves their self-interest, then synergy occurs and magic can happen.