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Tip of the week: Recognize hospitalists' accomplishments

Hospitalist Leadership Connection, February 22, 2011

Hospitalists anticipate, appreciate, and respond to recognition of their positive performance. Constructive acknowledgment of an individual physician’s performance, as well as recognition of the group’s performance as a whole, creates a self-perpetuating feedback loop that promotes the development of long-term, high-performance goals and an innate sense of professional satisfaction.

Providing such feedback during the hospitalist group’s regularly scheduled meeting is usually most appropriate because that is when group recognition is paramount. For example, praise performance during group meetings when:

• The group was able to provide outstanding patient care during a time when the workload exceeded the typical level
• An individual physician accomplishment positively affected the entire practice
• A hospitalist in the group volunteers for an unpopular role such as nocturnist duty

Praising performance in a group setting is most appropriate when it is based on objective standards. However, in some instances, it is best to provide positive individual feedback privately, especially when the accomplishment is subject to interpretation. For example, acknowledging publicly that a hospitalist billed the most relative value units may lead another hospitalist to claim that he or she is “overcoding,” especially if it is tied to a bonus.

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

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