Medical Staff

Beware of the summit syndrome

Hospitalist Leadership Connection, October 12, 2010

The summit syndrome, or the “paradox of experience and expertise,” refers to a condition seen most commonly in overachievers but is also detectable in individuals with lesser aspirations. Simply put, it is a condition manifested with negative and, ultimately, career-damaging internal and external symptoms. A hospitalist may experience summit syndrome if he or she feels there are no more challenges to conquer or peaks to climb. As hospital medicine continues to expand its ranks, it is important for hospital medicine leaders to be sensitive to these symptoms in their frontline hospitalists who may develop mastery in clinical hospital medicine after just a few years in practice. Unless unique and diversified roles are created for them, these hospitalists may deteriorate professionally or pursue opportunities in other organizations.

Offer staff hospitalists the opportunity to participate on committees and/or task forces focused on the following issues to generate new challenges and increase the indispensability of the hospitalist program as a whole:

  • Utilization review
  • Quality important
  • Palliative care
  • Perioperative medicine

Hospitalists may also seek involvement with resident, physician assistant, and nurse practitioner training programs. In reality, all of these roles, including that of hospital medicine group leader, at some point may no longer be viewed as challenging. Indeed, at each career peak, a hospitalist will need to revaluate his or her so-called “winning formula” and reassess how his or her career integrates into life’s grand purpose.

As always, recognition of the potential for this syndrome is critical to prevent its deleterious effects and greatly improves hospitalist and hospitalist group leader retention and career fulfillment.

The above excerpt is adapted from The Hospitalist Program Management Guide, 2nd edition, published by HCPro, Inc.

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