ABSTRACT
Introduction This book is directed mainly at medical and non-medical managers in the healthcare services in the UK. It has a wealth of information on commissioning, safety and quality, board functions and project management and other related topics. The book also gives advice and guidance to medical staff including consultants who are not in management. Thus chapters such as information technology, doctors in difficulty, human resource issues and teaching and training will no doubt prove useful to all doctors, irrespective of their interest in medical management. However, there is another issue that is important to every doctor which is simply this: What does it take to become a good doctor? How could one improve one’s personal effectiveness as a doctor? As the GMC’s booklet Leadership and Management for All Doctors1 states: ‘Being a good doctor means more than simply being a good clinician.’ It is much more than merely keeping up to date with the latest advances and developments in one’s speciality. No doubt such knowledge will help in the effective diagnosis and treatment of patients, but doctors deal with individuals and families, their problems, emotions and concerns on a daily basis and therefore have a more diverse role than merely diagnosing and treating. The GMC booklet goes on to outline the responsibilities of a doctor in relation to employment issues, teaching and training, planning and managing resources, helping to develop and improve services, and raising and acting on concerns involving patient care and safety. Thus the need for every doctor to have a sound understanding of leadership and management issues can no longer be ignored. Unlike managers who need no clinical skills (in most cases) to manage effectively, doctors, and in particular consultants, with no management skills will find it very difficult to accomplish their wide-ranging responsibilities both as clinicians and leaders. All doctors, irrespective of their position in the organization, should have some basic management skills. These include effective time management, ability to provide leadership
to multidisciplinary teams, managing difficult colleagues, including superiors, and managing stress and burnout. A repertoire of such aptitudes would enable doctors to develop their full potential and discharge their wide-ranging management, clinical, leadership and professional responsibilities successfully. There is considerable evidence to show that most highly performing trusts have robust arrangements for good clinical engagement. To be meaningful, clinical engagement with frontline clinicians who have a good knowledge of management issues should be combined with a culture of openness and honesty. This would enable staff to speak out freely and raise concerns without fear of recrimination. So being a good doctor means several things: staying up to date with clinical knowledge and skills, having a good understanding of management issues, having good management and leadership skills with a genuine desire to be self-critical, being able to learn from experience and reflect on one’s practices, and being able to appreciate constructive criticism and work in partnership with others (see Fig. 13.1).
