In more than 30 years as a healthcare industry consultant, Jack Silversin, DMD, DrPH, has watched as hospitals have evolved into complex organizations that emphasize efficiency, teamwork, and cost-effectiveness—three things absent from most medical training programs, he says.
“Doctors have been trained to be autonomous, but the new organizational structure is to be collective,” says Dr. Silversin, CEO of the Boston-based consulting firm Amicus Inc.
The changes doctors and HM groups are being asked to make are challenging their way of life and their work, Dr. Silversin says, and leading a group of independent-thinking hospitalists is no easy task.
“It’s a very challenging thing to be a leader. … It’s having the confidence and mind-set to engage people and make decisions,” says Dr. Silversin, who plans to address such issues during his daylong seminar at SHM’s Leadership Academy Sept. 14-17 in Miami.
Part of an expert faculty that teaches skills and concepts on beginner and advanced tracks, Dr. Silversin says Leadership Academy attendees learn how to define their roles and how to present their expectations to their groups.
“You go back to your hospital and see things in a different light,” he says. “You need to have the answers, but you need to balance that with relationships.”
The next Leadership Academy is Jan. 25-28 in Scottsdale, Ariz. For complete faculty bios and more information on participating, visit SHM’s events Web site.
