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Beware of roadblocks for evaluating hospitalist program’s performance

Hospitalist Leadership Connection, November 6, 2007

The successful design and implementation of a performance feedback system requires time, energy, and medical staff resources-all of which are in short supply in busy inpatient medicine programs.
Considering these facts, is it worth the effort to conduct individual performance reviews, and do the reviews actually result in better performance and improved patient care? The short answer to both questions is yes.
Here are other reasons why physician managers often find performance reviews a difficult task:

• The practice of evaluating what makes a "good" hospitalist does not easily lend itself to analysis
• Observations of hospitalists' daily rounds can be time consuming and/or impractical for busy hospitalist programs
• Autonomy has long been a main tenet of the medical profession, and physicians are reluctant to judge other physicians' work styles
• Peer or subordinate performance review is not typically taught in medical school, and there is a dearth of external resources to aid physician managers in this task
• Most hospitalists' job descriptions are not comprehensive enough to serve as the foundation for measuring their performance

Learn more tips for running a successful hospitalist program inside Tools and Strategies for an Effective Hospitalist Program, by Jeffrey R. Dichter, MD, FACP and Kenneth G. Simone, DO, published by HCPro, Inc.

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