Dear All,
For sometime
most Nigerians who are not doctors or dentists have seen ‘medical doctors and
dentists and The NMA as whiners, whining about the health system but going on
strike to make more money in their private clinics / hospitals at the expense
of the general public ‘ ( CPC at the Stakeholder meeting on the Strategic
Plan).. Ofcourse they may be wrong s we all know that many doctors still
do wonderful job of patient care, but lets face it doctors and dentists
in Nigeria may inadvertently have created the conditions for such ill-conceived
talks / views: we prescribe that we need to complain less, but
still identify when things are not going well and take the Lead in finding and
applying solutions.
Sadly that
prescription can hardly work in today’s complex Nigeria especially as we watch
the NMA’s Golden Hour under President Buhari disintegrate before our eyes –
e.g. the self destructive intra professional fight currently going on ( it is
doctors fighting doctors, no longer JOHESU or any non doctors).
The solution
probably lies in accepting that The NMA plate is overflowing with too many
important but time consuming and expensive agendas such that it is not doing
any of them as well as it can and it should. WE need to think out of the box to
save our profession and association!
Like our
sister organisations elsewhere, we need other organization (s) to take some of
the load off our Parent NMA before the association crumbles under the yoke of
contemporary multiple challenges in Today’s Nigeria. NMA remains the
parent association for all doctors and dentists in Nigeria but it needs to be
helped to remain relevant and stronger!.
We share the
Article below from Doximity, it makes a good case for changing from
‘being complainant nd whiner to being Leader:
READ ON-
‘Physician
Takes Strong Stance on How Doctors Should Stop Complaining
The Vital
Physician Executive · July 5, 2017Original Article
By John Jurica
I’m
intrigued by the number of bloggers writing about the frustrations of medical
practice. It makes for good reading, because it resonates with many physicians.
From Meg Edison complaining about Maintenance of Certification on
Rebel.MD, to Matthew Hahn lamenting that regulations are destroying medical
practice, to Maiysha Clairborne writing about physician burnout on Kevin MD,
physicians are not shy about complaining. But maybe it’s time to stop
complaining and start leading.
If you stop
in any hospital doctor’s lounge, you will certainly hear a lot more
complaining. We complain about electronic medical records, complicated billing
requirements, regulations, lawsuits, the difficulties of running a medical
practice or working for a large institution.
Much of the
complaining is warranted. But complaining without taking action is
the characteristic of a victim. What we need in healthcare is leadership,
not victimhood. And true leaders jump into action and skip the whining part
completely.
Complaining
Is Not Leading
What does
complaining accomplish? For years, I’ve read surveys showing that physicians
are unhappy. They’re planning to retire early. Physician numbers should be
declining. They won’t recommend a career in medicine to their students or
family. Fewer students will choose the medical profession.
But, I don’t
see increasing numbers of physicians quitting. Retirement rates have not gone
up. The number of medical schools has grown. So has the number of students
applying to medical schools.
I’ll admit
that physicians are unhappy. If you ask any physician what they don’t like,
you’ll get a list of 10 or 20 things that are wrong with “medicine.”
My question
is this: What are we going to do about it?
I recently
listened to a podcast in which Tim Ferris
interviewed Blake Mycoskie. Mycoskie is one of the founders of TOMS,
the shoe manufacturer. TOMS is known for donating a pair of shoes to a needy
child for each pair that it sells. It has reportedly donated over 75 million
pairs since the company was started about eleven years ago.
During the
interview, Ferris and Mycoskie discussed their definition of an entrepreneur.
Their assessment: A true entrepreneur cannot be made. An entrepreneur is born
when she is consumed by a burning desire to solve a problem. All of the
entrepreneurial studies courses at ivy league business schools won’t create an
entrepreneur without a problem begging to be solved.
Physicians
Who Identified A Problem And Solved It
The same can
be said for physicians and leadership. There is no shortage of possible
problems for physician leaders to solve. And rather than complaining, we should
step up and fix the problems that are plaguing us. Nothing could be more
motivating to an emerging physician leader.
There are
many examples of physicians who have done just that:
·
Pamela Wible, a
family physician, has taken on the issue of physician depression and suicide.
She couldn’t stand by and watch as physician suicides grew to double the rate
in non-physicians.
·
Atul Gawande, a surgeon,
has taken on the issue of patient safety. As a public health journalist and
author, having witnessed all of the preventable medical errors around him, he
was inspired to speak and write about the issue.
·
Serafino
Garella, a nephrologist, founded the largest free medical clinic in the
U.S. He was compelled to address the intense need for care of the poor in
Chicago, Illinois.
·
Robert
Wachter, an internist, started the hospitalist movement in the United
States. He recognized the negative effects of trying to balance an outpatient
practice with the increasingly complex care of hospitalized patients and
created a solution.
·
Howard Maron, a former Seattle SuperSonics team physician,
founded a clinic that introduced what became known as concierge medicine.
He was responding to the overwhelming paperwork, lack of control, rushed
visits, and unhappy patients he and his colleagues were encountering.
All of these
innovations resulted from physicians identifying a problem, becoming obsessed
with solving it, and creating a solution. It took leadership.
I can think
of four good reasons why physicians should stop complaining and start leading
today:
1.
Eliminate negative self-talk. Complaining is a form of negative self-talk.
It only leads to deeper frustration and despair. We think of complaining as
the result of unhappy circumstances. But the field of positive
psychology has demonstrated that negative self talk increases unhappiness,
poor health and anxiety. By eliminating complaining and replacing it with positive self
talk and taking action, our optimism and vitality improve.
2.
Improve physician engagement. Physician engagement is at an all time low in many institutions.
Stepping up to solve problems will help improve engagement and ultimately the
lives of our colleagues and our profession.
3.
Elevate our teams. Taking action will improve our standing, and our work
environment. The nurses, radiology technicians, pharmacists and other team
members will be inspired by our efforts. Then hospital and medical group
executives will welcome our input into solving problems, rather than seeing us
as whiners.
4.
Promote healthy communities. Developing a meaningful calling, and devoting
ourselves to servant leadership, will improve the health of our communities.
How many free medical clinics have been started by courageous physicians taking
a leadership role?
Think about
the problems that can be overcome if we devote ourselves to addressing them.
The next
time you hear yourself complaining to your colleagues, step back for a moment
and reflect. Make a commitment to address the issues you’re complaining about.
Begin a journey to take control of the situation. Stop complaining and start
leading.’’
Joseph Ana.
Africa Center for Clin Gov Research &
Patient Safety
@ HRI West Africa
Group - HRI WA
Consultants in
Clinical Governance Implementation
Publisher: Health and
Medical Journals
8 Amaku Street Housing
Estate, Calabar
Cross River State, Nigeria
Cross River State, Nigeria
Phone No. +234 (0) 8063600642
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