First and Foremost, Physicians: The Clinical Versus Managerial Identities of Physician Leaders

Abstract:     
Physicians are commonly promoted into administrative and managerial roles in U.S. hospitals on the basis of clinical expertise, and often lack the skills, training or inclination to “lead.” In response to calls for more “professional” leadership in U.S. health care institutions, several studies have sought to identify factors associated with effective physician leadership − but we know little about how physician managers themselves construe their roles. Phenomenological interviews with physicians at three organizational levels in a typical U.S. urban hospital reveal vivid differences in how they understand and value managerial versus clinical roles, claim and/or grant leadership status, and identify as (or with) physician managers on individual, relational and organizational basis. Understanding physicians’ attitudes and biases about being managers and appreciation for the strength of their primary identity as physicians should provoke health care boards and leaders to consider new approaches to selecting, training and rewarding physician managers.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 15

Keywords: Healthcare Management, Leadership, Identity, Role, Professionalism

working papers series