Listen to “Why Physician Engagement is Important”

There are many different reasons why supporting physician engagement is crucial. Why healthcare institutions of all sizes and scope should make physician engagement a major priority is explored on the latest episode of Healthcare Experience Matters. 

Today’s episode is teaming with PRC. Helping us navigate this important topic is our guest, Cindy King, PhD. Dr. King is Senior Vice President of Physician and Employee Solutions with PRC. 

As part of PRC’s team, Dr. King leads the Physician and Employee Engagement Division and oversees the development of the Engagement Index. This Index assists healthcare organizations in discovering effective and efficient ways to better connect employees, physicians, and caregivers in their overall culture.

She is both an accomplished speaker and published author. Dr. King earned a PhD in Educational Psychology with a specialization in Learning Cognition, Motivation, and Instruction. She also holds an MA in Program Evaluation from the University of Texas at Austin.

Defining Physician Engagement

“The way we define physician engagement, is that a physician needs to be both intellectually and emotionally committed to their hospital,” she said.

How can you tell if physician engagement is lacking at your institution? First and foremost, you must make sure you are measuring it.

“You really want to gain that awareness; you need to see where you currently are at today,” Dr. King said.

As discussed on today’s podcast, the next step after measuring physician engagement would be rolling out the results, sharing/communicating the results, and then action planning on it. 

There remains little doubt that physician engagement is a challenge for many healthcare organizations. Leadership must understand the value of measuring physician engagement. To improve physician engagement, conducting annual assessments on physician engagement is a solid starting point. 

Leadership and Communication

When physicians are interested in being a part of decision making, leadership should consider including them in strategic planning initiatives. 

“[Most physicians] want to have that direct link to the executive team where they can share their concerns and complaints, and also be a part of improvement initiatives,” Dr. King told us. 

Towards the middle of today’s podcast, we also learned that communicating the changes that are being made is also very important. Unfortunately, it can also be a very easy step to forget to implement. 

“A lot of times with our clients, where they fall short is they put into place all these amazing action plans and initiatives because of the feedback they received in the survey, but they don’t actually follow through and share with the physicians everything that they’ve been doing for them,” she said.

It’s no secret that excellent patient care is the end goal. It should be the driver in everything we do.

As discussed in this podcast, when patients perceive they are receiving excellent care, it often stems from them seeing the physicians, nurses, and staff around them display excellent teamwork.  

Learn More

Please make sure to listen to today’s podcast via the link below to learn more about today’s topic and the importance of physician engagement, teamwork, and building strong relationships with physicians, nurses, and staff.

Did you know? The Healthcare Experience Matters podcast is now available wherever you get your favorite podcasts.

Tune into new episodes of this podcast every Thursday morning! You can subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube. If you are looking for an episode related to today’s topic, please be sure to check out the following podcasts:

Posted in:

Physician Engagement & Physician Loyalty, PRC