Why are doctors' offices so badly run?

As patients, many of us have picked up on the kind of tension that plagues doctors' offices and hospitals—the tension among doctors, nurses, and administrative staff. There are horror stories about bully doctors who punish any questioning of their authority with verbal abuse, a dynamic that can result in deadly medical mistakes. But even conscientious doctors, like White, can be bad managers, and miscommunications and dissatisfaction in a medical context are bad for doctors, nurses, and patients. A recent Mayo Clinic study found that poor supervision in a medical setting is associated with burnout—which is associated with medical errors and a lack of empathy with patients