Death by meeting
Tuesday, June 15th, 2010
Most physicians, sometime in their career, end up becoming involved in some way with administration, whether running a practice or taking on some sort of leadership role at their hospital. Such is the case with me, as I am heavily involved in a large change coming with the EHR that my hospital uses.
The one thing I find foreign is the amount and length of meetings that I go to. One trait (a good one!) of physicians is the belief that we must get things done. We are trained early on that if we don’t make something happen, it doesn’t happen. In addition, we are held medically and legally responsible for things that don’t get done. That’s enough to motivate just about anyone, and gets magnified in the usual type A, driven, get-things-done physician. However, meetings are a dangerous place for such driven physicians.
Some meetings can suck you dry like a thirsty vampire at a blood bank.
Meetings can be divided in to 2 types: the “informational” meeting, whose abject purpose is “share” information so we are all “on the same page.” These are the meetings that run the longest and seem to be the least productive. At these meetings you are likely to encounter a species of meeting goer–Humanis chatterbox. This meeting goer loves to hear himself speak. And sadly, physicians seem to be a large percentage of this sub-species. Favorite saying, “In my experience….”
Other meetings are the “solutions” meetings. At these meetings, solutions are to be developed for problems. This meeting is the purvey of another species–Humanis negativus. This species has a rubber stamp that gets hauled out and used at every opportunity– the “NO” stamp. Favorite saying of this subpecies? “Just say NO!” Profession most likely to be represented by this species? The lawyer.
Of course, no meeting would be complete with out the technical folks. This species–Humanis technacus, speaks a language most of us don’t understand. They speak a language called “information technology” and use words like “interface”, “mapping” and “HL7″. They love their product, the EHR, and frequently forget that it is a tool for care, rather than the end product. Favorite saying? “But look, we just built this and it’s so cool!”
My advice, when attending these meetings is several fold:
- Be grateful that you are a doctor, so when you go back to your practice you can glory in feeling of getting something done!
- Bring a giant latte so keep you in the game.
- Realize that good results and ideas do come out of these meetings, but just not at the speed you or I are used to.
Talk later! I’m off to get a cappuccino before my next meeting!!!