Administration Mini-Fellowship: Alumni Mixer Highlights

     With the increase in interest and participation in hospital administration, the mini-fellowship held an alumni mixer. Recent and older alums who have found their way into an administrative role shared their experiences with the current residents of County. The representative alumni offered a diverse background from which they shared their knowledge. Some alums pursued fellowships while others did not, experiences ranged from community hospitals to large academic centers, and some had a direct route while others had a more circuitous path. Nonetheless, the words fell on quite a few eager ears. Some highlighted advice includes:

• What can I do now to help prepare me for a role in administration?
  • Focus on your interests, and don’t do something for the sake of just doing something. Time in residency is precious and you have to make valuable use of it.
  • When getting involved in projects, being thoroughly knowledgeable in one field is more beneficial than attempting to “do everything.”
  • Use your research block to test out projects of interest. If you aren’t motivated enough to pursue a project to completion, it may be a sign.
  • In everything you do, try to incorporate an admin bend to it to test your interests and build the portfolio.
  • Be cautious of how you spend your time in residency. Now is not the time to advance the admin interests. You’re still learning medicine. Spend time learning and teaching it. Administrative opportunities will come.

• What can I do to pursue an administrative role?
  • Your residency network is wide. Use it because it can help you find a good match for a future job. Additionally, attend conferences and other networking events to build a bigger network.
  • Always try to publish what you are doing. Show your commitment and interest from the start.

• Does it get better on the other side?
  • No matter where you are, don’t take your home (or any) institution for granted. It may be your next best opportunity. Opportunities hide in all sort of places.
  • Even if you may feel disgruntled at your current location, the grass is never greener, and every place has pros and cons.

• What have you learned in your role?
  • As you rise in title, you may become more of a servant to the organization than you may have expected.
  • Choose paths that align with your interests and further your objective; however, you may not always be able to see where the path will lead you and there may lie opportunities in these unsuspecting paths.
  • A lot of success depends on luck. Lots of things have to line up, such as having the right opportunity at the right time in your personal life.
  • Docs have no idea what they are talking about in admin/business. We have created the mess that we’re in by allowing suits to run our hospitals (although we may not necessarily have done a better job ourselves).
  • One of the most rewarding things is empowering others.
  • You may have a good idea or skill set, but the organization needs to recognize that need first in order to hire you or to be willing to make concessions for you.
  • Packaging the problem and solution is crucial for advocating change – speak the language of the admins. Example, instead of speaking about the lack of evidence base for PO contrast, talk about decreasing LOS and FTE aspect of the problem.
  • The change in schedule comes with trade offs. You might get called in the middle of the night frequently, but you also get some stability of being able to tend to your family and pets on a regular basis.
  • Follow through with your plans. If something bothers you, try and change it. However, just trying to  change it isn’t sufficient. Having the energy and motivation to follow through is crucial for change.
  • Be realistic with your timeline. That “simple change” might not take one week and likely not even one month. Having realistic expectations will help you be better suited for success.

The mixer was notably a success and appreciated by all residents who attended.  Without a strong and supportive alumni network, it would not have been possible, and for this, we are grateful for those that came to share their words of wisdom.  

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rshah

Latest posts by rshah (see all)

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• Administration Mini-Fellowship: Alumni Mixer Highlights - January 23, 2019