Leadership is one of the most rewarding experiences throughout a division chair or chief’s career. In this conversation, our panel reflects on their leadership highs and what they learned from them. Some key themes are the value of relationships, impacting the lives of children and their families, improving outcomes and celebrating colleagues’ wins. Learn how these experiences sparked the council’s love for mentorship. Read more
One of the many challenges that academic medicine leaders face is helping faculty deal with significant changes in their career direction or emphasis. How we as leaders deal with those challenging moments is very impactful both for the individual faculty members and for the rest of the faculty and institution. How we handle these vitally important moments is among the most potent factors defining our leadership and the culture of our teams. Read More
The Child Health Advisory Council discusses best practices in the search process including changes that have evolved over the last few decades (e.g. Zoom interviews, impact of social media/employment platforms etc.) and their impact. Key strategies for success are highlighted including communication, the importance organization and candidate focus.
Bringing a faculty member or employee into an organization has very important implications for the future success of the organization and the recruit. Making a bad choice in hiring is extraordinarily painful for a department and for a faculty member whose career suffers as a result. Often faculty searches bring candidates who may be known to a member of the search committee and, as a result, references may be deemed unnecessary. In this conversation, members of the Child Health Advisory Council discuss the importance of obtaining references prior to completing all faculty searches.
This Pediatric Insight Conversation focused on needs, approaches, and strategies for doing the critically essential work of clinical research that is crucial to continuously improving patient care and outcomes in pediatrics.
Initial comments focused on the need for a critical assessment of existing infrastructure, personnel, and resources upon which to build. Particular emphasis was on having or developing dedicated staff, especially research coordinators and data management experts, to assure quality control and precision of data. The need to share and coordinate such personnel and expertise across divisions within a department was noted as a way to increase efficiency and quality. The benefits of involving the community to assure adequate inclusion and diversity of subjects and to develop trust within the community to have open and in-depth responses were mentioned.
The executive search services provided by CareerPhysician can include a search-focused division or department review by a member of its Child Health Advisory Council (CHAC). This unique review can lay important groundwork for a successful leadership search outcome. In this conversation, CHAC members discuss goals and deliverables of these reviews; their experience doing the reviews; and their reflections on how these reviews would have helped in their own leadership searches.
Our goal as pediatricians is to improve patient care and outcomes. Our panel discusses how and why clinical research is critical to that goal. We also emphasize how clinical research improves interactions among faculty; extends collaboration to other departments; schools, and the lay community, and provides opportunities for faculty development. It is essential to the academic mission of departments of all sizes and scopes.
The fiscal challenges in academic medicine are apparent to us all — particularly in academic pediatric medicine. The many pressures of increasing complexity of clinical care, decreased reimbursement (especially from government payors such as Medicaid), competing priorities for individual faculty members to meet the multiple aims of patient care, teaching the next generation, and scholarship to advance our respective specialty fields to name a few.
New clinical leaders often enter their leadership roles without a solid understanding of the economics of health care. Additionally, they may not inherit established funds flow models that optimize the realization of the goals for patient care, teaching, research, and child health advocacy.
In this conversation, our council discusses what leaders in academic pediatric medicine need to understand about the business of medicine and what principles need to be to considered to maximize fairness and the chances of accomplishing competing priorities and goals.
Clarity in understanding the responsibilities of the Chair of a Search Committee is important to a successful process. The goal of the process is to identify the best candidate for the position that is to be filled. This conversation highlights the importance of the charge given to the committee. Noteworthy is the attention to details borne by the Committee Chair e.g. to have in place the preparatory documents, standardization of the process, appropriate selection of committee members, legal and HR supports to ensure the integrity of the search with adherence to Title VII and IX mandates. Discussed also is the engagement of a broad representation of committee members, individuals who are invested and do not detract from reaching a positive outcome for the Department, School of Medicine and University.
Career Physician’s New Leader Engagement Program is a comprehensive approach to optimize a leader’s success in their new role. It begins with an experienced leader performing an extensive review of the institution and its component divisions and departments with their respective strengths, weaknesses and challenges. That same reviewer can then be an effective facilitator during the recruitment process based on that in-depth understanding of the institution and the area of specialty. The most powerful dividend of this program may be the potential for that same reviewer to serve as an advisor/coach for the individual selected to be the new leader. While this advisor/coach role may differ somewhat from the formal executive coaching role, the value of an outside advisor with specific knowledge of the situation, and who can serve as a confidant with no conflict of interests, may be powerful.
