Developing Empathetic Physician Leaders

The task of identifying and grooming physician leaders for C-suite posts is complex. A physician may wield a surgical instrument with precision, but could lack the compassion needed to win loyalty from staff and trust from patients. In the post-healthcare reform era, physician leaders who show emotional and clinical strength will be a valuable commodity.

Some health systems are cultivating physician leaders by encouraging empathy, beginning in medical school. This week, a program called, SELECT (Scholarly, Excellence, Leadership, Experiences Collaboration Training Program) was launched in Tampa, FL. It focuses on leadership training and development for medical students, with a specific emphasis on compassion and patient-centered care, elements often missing from science-focused medical school programs.

Students will spend two years studying at University of South Florida Health followed by two years of training at its partner in SELECT, the Lehigh Valley Health Network in Allentown, PA, to complete their medical degrees. At least 19 students were selected for SELECT. Another 48 will be picked in the next academic year.

They were chosen not only because of their academic credentials, but for what school officials termed their high level of emotional intelligence, with a hope that they can be "catalysts for change."

"We really think this is an idea whose time has come," said Alicia Monroe, vice dean of educational affairs who leads USF's undergraduate medical education program. "There's a need to redesign medical education to prepare physicians to cope with 21st century complexities. That means working in teams and to embrace the importance of the patient-centered experience. There has been a resistance for what we have all known is the key in the provider/patient relationship. The patient needs to be the center of healthcare."

USF Health worked with the Teleos Leadership Institute in Elkins Park, PA, to interview and assess students' emotional intelligence for the program. Students were asked about significant moments in their lives, for example, and how they responded, and what they learned.

Besides emphasis on teamwork, the students will focus on quality improvement and patient safety "more than regular medical students are trained," said Robert Brooks, MD, MA, MBA, MPH, a former secretary of health for the state of Florida and currently associate vice president for health leadership at USF.

Such instruction over a four-year period along with the regular medical school teaching lays the groundwork for students eyeing potential leadership positions in their careers, he said.

Brooks said, a "truism" holds that it's "technical skills that generally get someone into the C-suite, but it's the lack of emotional intelligence that gets them out."

"You read these horror stories about some CEOs and whether they did something inappropriate or problematic," he says "We shake our heads and realize that a reasonable amount of self-awareness, of relational understandings, would have helped address these problems."

"Whatever particular specialty or type of career these students may go into, whatever role they choose to play as part of the healthcare industry, we believe these tools will show integrated learning over four years, and with a focus on emotional intelligence, will make them better suited for success."

During the first 36 hours of instruction this week, the discussions at USF Health focused on students' interpersonal experiences beyond their clinical knowledge, says Kanchi Batra, 23, a student with SELECT who graduated last year from Northwestern University in Chicago with a major in biology

"There already has been a lot of reflection," Batra says of the initial classes. The other day the students and physician faculty discussed what she called a "lifeline exercise."

"They said, 'tell us what you are proud of; what helped you along; what were your obstacles.' Physician leaders talked about their own issues along with the students," she says. "There was the sense of trust among us."

Batra knew at an early age that she wanted to be a physician. During her freshman year at Northwestern, she "shadowed" a doctor for several months. "It opened my eyes about the daily rigors and stresses," she says.

Batra says she's looking forward to future studies, and sees the SELECT program and her part in it as emblematic of "what the public needs and what the public wants."

"They aren't looking for someone who only has the technical skills to treat heart disease, but someone who can respond to what a patient needs in an empathetic way," she says.