Course Description:
This interactive course is designed to provide students with a comprehensive introduction to human resource issues important to leaders in medical education. The content includes team building, communication styles, conflict resolution, hiring, engaging and retaining staff, development of professional portfolios, and recognition of contributions to educational programs. Participants will bring a human resource case study to the group at the outset, and throughout the course, they will collaborate with classmates to identify best practice solutions.
Aim:
Students will be able to anticipate and respond appropriately to human resource issues in the medical education environment and to create a culture of life-long learning in their workplace.
Learning Outcomes: By the end of the course, students will be able to:
Evaluate and resolve common human resource issues
Describe the best approaches to hire, engage and retain staff
Apply concepts in teambuilding and communication styles
Hold a difficult conversation to resolve conflict
Evaluate and manage personnel situations that have legal and ethical issues
Establish personnel supervision, assessment and evaluation policies and techniques including the professional portfolio
Inspire “possibility” thinking
Set SMART performance goals
Address performance improvement opportunities
Provide meaningful recognition for positive contributions
Problem
During one of my MICU rotations as a fellow, I faced this difficult situation. I learned a lot from this course in regards to how to manage this very sensitive issue. One of the 2nd year medical resident at Duke University started the MICU rotation. It is a six-week rotation that was hard on him and difficult. He could not acquire basic knowledge of topics necessary to know in caring of MICU patients, had difficulty to have skills of procedures performance improve, and could not cope with every 3rd day long call schedule. All of these factors affected his progress and unfortunately resulted in a need to repeat this clinical rotation.
Solution
It was essential to have a committee that discusses his performance in the MICU. Members of this committee includes; the fellow who worked with him, the resident mentor, the MICU attending and the chief resident. It is important to have a detailed performance discussion. We reached a conclusion of different reasons that ended with failure to achieve required competencies to be established. There was a gap of knowledge, lack of skills to perform procedures and lack of appropriate utilization of time while on a long-call shift.
Holding the discussion with him was difficult. It was helpful to avoid confrontation immediately after the change. I preferred to wait until his next MICU rotation. Before the start of the rotation, I had lunch with him to discuss how the rotation will be, remind ourselves about mutual goals and how to consider distribution of work and efforts during a busy long call shift. I reassured him that the committee decision is to consider cancelling an elective rotation, and have the MICU rotation instead. So, this does not affect his future career and the duration of training.
Medical residents would benefit from structured MICU curricular activities, which overcomes minor deficiencies and establish base of knowledge and skills we all need. I considered a pilot of the MICU curriculum I designed (in MEL 604). The activities will establish baseline knowledge about Critical Care Medicine. They include a focus on procedural videos and skills that give a start on safe and effective performance.
I focused throughout the rotation on having a highly effective team. A team that shares a safe and optimum care as a mutual purpose. Members are empowered to innovate, work in a friendly environment, seek optimum performance, recognizes great practices and work to establish and maintain morale among the group. Fortunately, there was a remarkable improvement. It was a great example to me how coaching to have the ‘A’ and reaching towards high team effectiveness will result in overall success and personal satisfaction.
Reflection
This course discusses different aspects of professional development and leadership skills that are needed within organizations. As medical educators, these concepts are important to establish and use as the basis for the interactions with colleagues and learners. Organizations survive with homogeneity that results in productivity. Having appropriate and effective hiring will result in a better work and learning culture. Ineffective hires will end with poor morale and damaged relationships. Information sharing, enrichment, mentorship and encouragement will achieve involvement of employees and learners to have interchangeable learning. I learn the concept of avoiding comparison and promoting excellence as a target so we all aim and reach perfection. We should all, learners and teachers, set SMART goals to be achieved every year. This will encourage self and peer review.
There will be times where difficult discussions will occur. Preparing for them and working towards mutual goals is better than self-gains. Working on creation of effective teams requires going through different development stages. Awareness of these stages will ease the dynamics and the tension of the group. Working on having PERFORM characteristics applied will result in high productivity and overall enrichment of the whole group experience.
Representing work achievements through portfolios will express unclear details of learners and leaders. Working on establishment of a happy environment will enhance a culture of productivity, learning and development among the group. Employees and learners may look into benefits and bonuses, but they also demand to work in a friendly environment that adds to their training and experience. Learners and leaders should share the vision and the mission of the organization. Empowerment of learners, with adequate supervision and mentorship, should have more creativity and safe practice. Application of above will translate leadership from superior to collegial relationship and achieve mutual respect among the group.
A culture of lifelong learning would indicate utilization of all opportunities to learn throughout life, in different settings, and through variable situations. It calls for innovation, and requires having a more holistic, flexible, and open-minded way of looking at education that has no start or a finish.
Updated @July 2015