Develop a Coaching Culture
“I know I blow up and get angry. I am protective about my patients and the physicians in my department and I can’t help myself.”
Dr. Leonard was one of my coaching clients, a surgeon who had left a trail of destruction by his combative style everywhere – the operating room, staff meetings and medical executive meetings.
“I’m a leader in my surgical specialty. People expect me to be forceful.”
I asked, “What do you look for in a good leader?”
“I want someone who listens to me, who looks at all options without stuffing his solution down my throat. I want someone who is calm, thoughtful and . . .”
After a long pause I heard “Oh.” (more…)


The demand for patient voices is on the rise as
A lot went on in the health care world this week, from a 10-year-old girl getting a lung transplant to a SCOTUS ruling on gene patenting to continued discussions and commentary on ACA and its implementation. With all this going on, chances are you might have missed some of the other stories. We’ve got you covered…
Recently, I was asked to see a male patient that complained of upper abdominal pain and “indigestion”. When I interviewed the patient he informed me that his pain moved to his chest and spread to his jaw, he had numbness in his right arm, and reported feeling faint, dizzy, and occasionally short of breath. The middle-aged man was a smoker, had parents and siblings with heart disease, and he had high blood pressure. Further testing confirmed my suspicion that he was having a heart attack and indeed had the classic symptoms of severe chest pain spreading to his jaw, numbness in the arms, and lightheadedness, dizziness, and shortness of breath. In contrast, I have treated women patients that had a heart attack without the classic symptom of chest pain that reported only fatigue. The symptoms of a heart attack can be subtle in women, vary among individuals, and heart disease increases your risk. Therefore, knowing more about heart disease and heart health is empowering. 

















