True North offers customized solutions in these important arenas of healthcare communication.

1. Interpersonal Skills and Conflict Resolution Strategies for The Medical Staff

The dynamic pace of change in today’s healthcare environment guarantees that conflicts will arise. Most members of the medical staff have little or no formal training in interpersonal skills and conflict resolution. The importance of these skills is noted in The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO or the Joint Commission) 2009 standards, requiring their documentation of such.

True North offers formal training in these crucial skills. Our formal training course includes:

• Education regarding the Joint Commission’s policy and procedures
• Direct in-house training
• Formal training course in “Skillful Communications in Healthcare.”
• Pre- and post-training assessment
• Documentation of satisfactory course completion

2. Coaching for physicians who may be labeled as “disruptive” under the new Joint Commission guidelines

Physicians labeled as disruptive may: present a threat to patient safety, lower staff morale, increase staff turnover, and expose the hospital to excess liability. Physicians so labeled are also themselves at risk for serious impairments: depression, marital discord, substance abuse, and stress related physical illness. Current strategies, involving peer view in dealing with such physicians, have proven ineffective. These failed strategies: pervert the integrity of the peer review process, are punitive in nature and provide no framework of support for the physician so labeled.

True North provides a systematic, objective, and positive approach to this problem, which includes the following:

• Enhancement of Institutional Policies and Procedures
• Comprehensive assessment of the physician at risk
• Identification of expected metrics and outcomes
• Customized plan to achieve outcomes
• Ongoing progress evaluation and feedback
• Recommendations for follow up

3. Mentoring and coaching for physician executives

The number of physicians assuming an executive role is increasing. While many physician leadership courses emphasize business skills, few offer the executive and interpersonal skills required for success. True North fills this gap by offering:

4. One-on-one mentoring and coaching for new physician executives

One-on-one mentoring and coaching for physician executives seeking to operate at peak performance

5. Career transitioning coaching

Today's dynamic healthcare environment offers physicians a myriad of career choices. Physicians, including many of those labeled as disruptive, may discover that career transition is an empowering option. True North can help them explore and implement a career change strategy.

For further reading, click on one or all of the FREE white papers listed below.

• Coaching for Health Care Institutions (PDF)
• Top 10 Success Strategies: Working with Physicians with Disruptive Behaviors (PDF)
• Dr. Sara Miller: Expert on Call (MP3 audio, 14MB)

Questions? Comments? Please contact Dr. Sara Miller.