Creating a culture: How to breed success in your practice

A successful office environment can be defined in many ways, but it generally starts with solid leadership, clear policies and open communication.

By Mike Norbut, AMNews staff. July 4, 2005.

As he goes about his daily schedule, Neil Baum, MD, keeps one question in mind: Would I go to a doctor like me?

Dr. Baum, who is a urologist in New Orleans and associate clinical professor of urology at Tulane University Medical School, strives to see patients on time and trains his staff that the patient, like the customer, is always right.

The nuances of the philosophy took years of thought and patient feedback to mold, but they now are second nature for staff members who have embraced the culture in the office.

"Our culture evolved slowly, but anybody who comes into the picture picks it up quickly," Dr. Baum said. "They're surrounded by people who do it."

A harmonious office environment is one of those enviable traits that characterize a successful physician practice. Yet it is also one of the most enigmatic qualities because of its slow evolution and elusive definition.

A culture can take years to develop into what you imagined when you opened your practice, and it can be even more difficult to change once its momentum has carried it in one direction.

You know when an office is working well and when it isn't, but with so many possible factors and so much history at work, it's hard to pinpoint the exact cultural ingredients that led to success -- or a lack thereof.

"You can see what an abscess is or what a tumor looks like, but what is culture?" said Dan West PhD, president and CEO of HTC Consulting Group and a professor of health management at the University of Scranton in Scranton, Pa. "Doctors have had a hard time with that concept of management."