Much has been written about the need in healthcare to enhance access to our resources and, frankly, simply to acknowledge when patients, families and their visitors are in our facilities. In some organizations, there’s an equal amount of energy being spent on relationships with our co-workers.

But those efforts leave out an equally important group we need to reach out to. What are you doing to create a welcoming environment for new physicians? As the quest to get and keep new physicians becomes more and more challenging, does your organization have a plan in place to ensure that once recruited, their transition into the new environment is positive?

Reasons Why They Leave

We know that physicians who leave a practice generally do so within the first two years. While they cite multiple reasons for moving on, many fall into the category of “it’s not the right fit.” While compensation can be a consideration, other reasons include: having unmet needs within the practice, being offered something that didn’t materialize and expecting to be treated differently. They’re many of the same things the non-physicians among have faced in jobs we couldn’t wait to leave!

Reflect for a moment on the last physicians who left you for another practice opportunity. Ask yourself, “Would the physician have been a good fit if they’d stuck it out? Did you do all you could to create the right fit for them?” 

Building a New Physician Strategy

Creating a welcoming environment for a new physician isn’t just one person’s job. However, there does need to be a point person who ensures all those involved are doing their part. The timing might be right for your organization to build a new physician retention strategy:

* Create a new physician retention plan for each new physician who joins the staff.

* Customize it to their specialty and group they are joining, to their personality, their level of experience and their family needs. 

* Assess where they may need the most support—in social, time management, hospital-based, practice-based, marketing, and so forth. Talk to the recruiter, to the partners they’re joining and to the physician individually to get an honest sense of their strengths and weaknesses.

* Create a support system with different people connecting with the new physician on a monthly basis. Use a variety of settings to keep it fresh. 

* For a large or cliquish medical staff, consider developing a new physician-mentoring program.

* Pay attention to all aspects of welcoming, at the clinical, social, family and peer- affiliation level. Keep Tabs on Your Efforts
Those who are seeing a difference in finding good fits with physicians in their organizations are dedicating the time to make it happen. Track your ability to retain physicians, and take the time to learn why physicians leave. Beyond the pat answers, conduct an in-depth examination to learn what could/should have been done differently. This isn’t about placing blame, but emphasizing ongoing learning about perceptions and how to improve the culture for the next physician who joins. 

Kriss Barlow RN, MBA is a senior consultant with Corporate Health Group, a national healthcare consulting firm and is based in the Twin Cities office. For additional information, please call 715-381-1171 or contact us via the Web.

To print this page select the print button from your browser window or click here.