What The Top 1% Of Medical Directors Do To Stay Ahead

A medical director is often considered the cornerstone or instrumental in the hospital department’s success. The director needs to be efficient and patient-centric; if patient care is the end goal, then staff-wellbeing will come naturally as clinicians need to be in top form, physically and emotionally, to do their jobs as well as is humanly possible.

Staff members also look up the chain for examples of how to lead, what to prioritise, and how to work efficiently. Only a medical director who truly cares for patients can ever really expect the same level of care from their employees in the healthcare industry.

With that in mind, top medical directors make it a point to identify the strengths and weaknesses of their organisations in their finest details. Many medical directors fail to verify or identify what the organisation or medical system needs to be more efficient in, from everything from hiring to delivering excellent healthcare. Often this will require taking the initiative when the opportunity arises to help move the department in the right direction. \

To the medical directors reading this, and hopefully there’ll be a few: listen to your staff. The top directors don’t limit themselves by just the consultants and the team leaders, they get an overall picture of the business by asking the nurses, the admin, even the cafeteria staff if you’re lucky enough to have them, where there is space for improvement. And while we won’t sugarcoat things by pretending the medical industry is in its strongest ever position, we have a responsibility to tell things as they are.

Leveraging Software For Credentialing, Training And Onboarding

Medical directors in the one per cent often take the initiative regarding credentialing, training and onboarding of fresh employees. This will often mean taking the time out to devise a strategy that includes all three for new recruits. The approach ensures that new employees are onboarded quickly, and they along with existing staff are completely compliant with current policies.

The top 1% of medical directors will also continue to check in on employees, ensuring they don’t have any questions regarding their assignments. However, if they do, the director should provide the needed support to resolve their obstacles so that the workflow within the system isn’t adversely affected by low-quality work. Simply put, they let software do the mundane technical tasks that discourage administrators and add several more hours per week to healthcare workers’s allotted work time.

The key the top 1% of medical directors have discovered is that they can leverage software to improve efficiency and speed up numerous everyday processes, which ensures that things move smoothly and often automatically. 

The Ability To Be Present 

While a medical director will undoubtedly be a problem solver, directors must be intentionally present in their roles. New medical directors should get involved with the facility and build a strong relationship with all the stakeholders, including hospital administration, physicians, and nurses. 

It is essential to be visible to clinicians, which will help you be a resource for them. It is also worth arranging regular meetings, both informal and formal, that will help to demonstrate interest and respect. This approach will help build a network of others willing to support you as the director because they trust you. 

Problem Solver 

What do all medical directors in the top 1% have in common? Well, they are all highly efficient problem solvers. They always have answers to questions they are asked or issues they face. This leadership quality is often quickly recognised, which is what helps them make it up the ladder. 

A lot of the time, departments and hospital dynamics will end up churning out a laundry list of problems without providing viable solutions. These problems appear endless, they're ever present, medical problems like the problems on Grey’s Anatomy. 

As a medical director, you should choose your efforts and prioritise them in urgency. Every problem does not need to be solved simultaneously, only the ones that are the highest priority. Knowing the best way to navigate it takes a bit of experience and judgement. You will always want to keep your mission and vision in mind to tackle these issues. 

The medical director should work collaboratively on all problems. It is imperative that people know how they can help and be an example for the team. The team should feel that they are working with you (as the director) and not for you; in other words, you are tackling problems as a team. An aligned approach will help prevent finger-pointing and make success more possible. 

‍Save Time and Money 

All businesses want to save money, including those in the health care industry. A medical director generally has a plan in the works that will help the organisation save money. Usually, the business will incur a short-term expense, which saves time and money in the long term. For instance, investing in a piece of software like Credentially may be a short-term expense. Still, it will automate many mundane tasks like verifying credentials, speeding up the hiring process, and saving the business money. It will also save time because the software can verify credentials faster than humans.

Not only does this apply to hiring, but other aspects of training and setting up notifications. Plus, a smooth and streamlined hiring process helps to retain the best candidates. Since every business wants to retain the best people, a medical director who can achieve this will always be in the top 1%. 

Final Word 

In the hospital culture, a medical director is perhaps the most influential person in the space. As a new director, it is essential to be a leader, one that deserves and earns the respect of everyone, even those who aren’t under your charge and may not always agree with you. However, every decision the top 1% of medical directors make is collaborative and meant to solve the problem while building the best possible relationship. 

Medical directors need to have and rely on their core values as a guide, strive to continue learning, and be intentionally present. They need to be visible to their team, other departmental leaders, and executives. Most of all, everything you do as a medical director should serve the best interests of the patients in the facility; doing that will ensure success.