BUSINESSAgent for change: Doctors must buy into shifts in practicePersuading physicians and staff to adopt new ideas can be challenging, but collecting data and seeking help in decision-making can aid the process.By Mike Norbut, amednews staff. April 3, 2006. One of the more popular Super Bowl commercials in recent years depicts a group of cowboys on the range, driving the herd to its destination. Rather than cattle, though, the cowboys are tending to cats. The ad, which promoted a technology services company, probably elicited chuckles from a few physician leaders. They might have seen parallels to their practices, where proposing change among a group of doctors can be a challenging task. "It's kind of like herding cats, because physicians are all such independent people," said William G. Gamel, MD, CEO of TMF Health Quality Institute, a Texas quality improvement organization for Texas. "Time is money, so you have to show how they're going to benefit from the change." Persuading physicians, and to a lesser extent staff, to embrace a new idea can be like trying to convince the Tasmanian Devil to stop spinning and walk. Doctors are always in a flurry of activity, and chances are, a change is just going to slow them down. But by appealing to physicians' intelligence, offering proof of the benefits and involving doctors in the decision-making process, group leaders have been able to spearhead change in their practices. The same principles apply to a group of any size, although it's obviously easier to get a small group together for a meeting, doctors said. But having a smaller group does not guarantee you'll reach an agreement, they said. Whether you're trying to adopt an office policy or purchase a six-figure electronic medical record system, you need physician buy-in to phase in the initiative smoothly. The problem is that because of their skill, talent and knowledge, physicians generally are even more resistant to change than the general population, said Craig Samitt, MD, an internist and chief operating officer of Fallon Clinic, a 260-physician multispecialty group based in Worcester, Mass. [...]Full text of American Medical News content is available to AMA members and paid subscribers.
Copyright 2006 American Medical Association. All rights reserved.
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