Tackling clinical workforce challenges through innovation and effective leadership

Tackling clinical workforce challenges through innovation and effective leadership | Image Credit: © Iryna - © Iryna - stock.adobe.com.

Hospital staffing shortages have become one of the nation’s most pressing labor-related challenges. Data from the Association of American Medical Colleges show the US may face a shortage of up to 86,000 doctors by 2036. And even before the pandemic, more than 40% of the country’s practicing physicians reported feeling burnout at least once a week.¹

So, among all the current challenges, how is one of the country’s largest pediatric health systems persevering and experiencing historic growth? For us, several factors have helped us recruit and retain top physicians. In addition to notable advancements in world-class, tech-enabled service lines and an expanding geographical footprint, our growth can be traced to a thriving work culture that attracts top talent from around the globe.

Most clinicians in positions like mine agree the health of our nation depends heavily on the health of our workforce. We must lean into change to create the work environment clinicians want.

Unlocking potential with clinical innovation

I manage a large, multifaceted group of pediatric health care providers who likewise serve a diverse patient population. One of my most challenging responsibilities is finding new ways to meet the complex needs of both providers and patients for the health of our entire organization and surrounding communities. Staying nimble has been crucial to meet the highest standards of care, so we prioritized becoming a home for innovation and continuous improvement.

It’s been vital to maintain visionary information technology talent in-house to build the systems needed to forge our own way and better serve the complex needs of our pediatric patients. With guidance and input from our clinical experts, our digital health teams have developed and integrated one-of-a-kind digital solutions for remote patient monitoring. These apps and dashboards that feed real-time data to clinicians have shown incredible impact in patient safety and health outcomes.

Take, for instance, our cleft palate app, which tracks a baby’s feeding and food intake and sends the data to the clinical team every day; if the child is not ingesting enough calories, the care team is alerted to reach out to the family, and the level of care can be escalated quickly as needed. We also created an app for the parents of babies with complex heart defects, who can log into their phones to provide real-time updates on their child.

This program-building not only ensures our physicians have the resources they need to address critical clinical issues, but also empowers them to understand that their impact goes beyond the bedside, leading to greater employee satisfaction.

Applying the right model

Prioritizing a flexible, effective leadership model has also been key to our success and growth.

When I first joined the health system in 2012, I could see that incredible opportunities for growth lay ahead, but we needed to look differently at how our leadership model was structured. In the past 10 years, our medical group has grown from 24 to 38 divisions with 75 subspecialties. In the past 5 years alone, we’ve integrated numerous private practices into our medical group, including nephrology and anesthesiology, to strategically create wraparound services that comprehensively address the needs of patients regionally and beyond.

Part of building this infrastructure—a complex undertaking requiring the coordination and work of many different stakeholders and physicians—was striking a balance that allowed each division to develop its own identity while also aligning with the greater culture, strategic goals and core values of the larger health system.

Getting these ships to sail in the same direction requires a unique approach so we developed a distinctive triad model that utilizes a manager and director on the administrative side and a division chief on the clinical side. This management structure draws on the combined strengths and talents of each of these leaders, allowing clinical division chiefs to stay focused on maximizing and developing the highest quality care possible while the manager and director own the administrative role of making this vision viable and operational.

Growing talent at home

Management and innovation are secondary to perhaps what is most important in any thriving health system—talent.

The next generation of doctors want to make profound contributions to their field and wish to be part of cutting-edge medicine that makes a real difference in the lives of their patients and our industry. Recruiting and retaining top talent is more challenging than ever before so we ensure our clinicians have access to impactful clinical research, reputable fellowship and residency training, and leadership development programs, which offer hands-on experience for early-career specialists.

As providers, it’s imperative to reward engagement and build on the successes of the professionals who invest their time and talent into the mission of our organization because those rewards contribute to making us an employer of choice, which is our ultimate goal.

Attracting and maintaining a high-performing physician workforce isn’t easy, but it is possible. Our continued growth as one of the nation’s top pediatric health systems is the result of our willingness to install a radically different management structure, our commitment to developing an environment and culture that is attractive to young physicians, and the value we’ve placed on incorporating new and impactful technologies and techniques that are making a difference in the lives of our clinicians and patients.

Reference:

1. New AAMC report shows continuing projected physician shortage. Association of American Medical Colleges. March 21, 2024. Accessed July 1, 2024. https://www.aamc.org/news/press-releases/new-aamc-report-shows-continuing-projected-physician-shortage