Physician-leaders “The New Breed” – Introducing the Idea of an Alternative Route for Leadership and Management in the Romanian Residency Program

Abstract

Abstract Modern technology accounts for major changes in the field of medicine, due to this fact it is imperative that future physician-leaders transcend these qualities in clinical medicine as well as in the administrative roles of health care institutions. Many physicians have acquired these administrative responsibilities by chance and may not possess the necessary tools or managerial know-how to administrate their respective establishments. The necessity to refine these leadership roles is evident and can be done so using several methods; with the implementation of a leadership development program or a program that provides a degree which can train physicians during their residency or at different stages of their careers. These programs can be extremely beneficial not only financially, but also from a moral and ethical standpoint, not to mention the general satisfaction of patients due to the improvement of services offered. One such program has already been applied at Duke Medicine, the MLPR (Management and Leadership Pathway for Residents) is an innovative program which is targeted towards residents with a medical degree that are also interested in management training. The MLPR program was developed in 2009 with the intent to cultivate the development of a new breed of physician-leaders, by providing residents with a rotational system supervised by mentors these “physicians-in-training” will be faced with various demanding tasks in a clinical environment as well as with different prospects in management that are aimed to further develop their leadership and managerial skills in all aspects of modern medicine. By suggesting the idea of introducing such a ground-breaking program into the Romanian health care system at an early stage in any medical career will give rise to more opportunities for aspiring physician-executives to subsequently enhance the overall quality of any health care enterprise.