Should Orientation Be Mandatory?

You must decide if the new physician orientation will be mandatory. The penetration of your message in the physician staff will increase as orientation moves from “voluntary” to “an expectation of new physicians” to “mandatory”. The remainder of this chapter will provide an orientation which I used at St. Vincent Hospital using the Ascension Health Mission Statement. You will see easily how to adapt the story of your own hospital and incorporate your mission statement. This orientation method is designed for a small group of 6 – 15 physicians. Larger groups can be oriented with this method by creating several smaller groupings for the discussions and letting the small groups bring key points to the larger group. Smaller facilities may orient only one or two physicians each year. In that situation, the physician champion, a chaplain and a potential mentor could cover the same material during a shared breakfast. You might groom some of the physician staff to be mentors particularly for new physicians.

What to include

What should you include in the orientation? One philosophy is to provide a deluge of everything you need to know, introduce physicians to key administrators and provide access to computers and lockers. For the physician who is new to town, living out of a suitcase and confused about where to park, the deluge will only add to fear and uncertainty. Consider rather providing a few critical points of orientation: Peer contacts The story of the hospital Focusing the new physician’s personal purpose Patient’s need for purpose Resources for the new physician’s personal development and self care Resources for their medical practice

Orientation - Why Bother

You may not have an orientation program at all at your hospital; the Army has basic training. We imagine that physicians come to the medical staff completely trained because we diligently check their credentials before admitting them to the staff. Your new physicians may be completely competent in the practice of medicine, but they are rookies in your hospital, with all of the fear and uncertainty that being a rookie entails. Many follow role models from medical school and training programs. Some eagerly anticipate substantial changes in their lives as they enter practice. Other new staff physicians may have been in practice for long periods of time at other institutions. They may be joining the staff with little enthusiasm under pressure from partners. They may have served at for-profit hospitals. They may believe that expressions of faith are inappropriate in practice. Some have a strong personal faith and want to express their faith in their work. Orientation is the first and best opportunity to align their goals with the hospital mission, allay their uncertainties and find appropriate models for them.

Where to start

New physicians are the most malleable physicians on your medical staff. The work you do for them will be the most efficient work that you do as a physician champion. New physicians are an investment in the future culture of the hospital. In other words, the changes you make in your physician orientation program will bear most of its fruit in a few years.

New Place

The programs you create for spiritual formation rely partly on place. Elements of the Seton Cove Spirituality Center remind us of the magnificence of creation, the warmth of companionship, the availability of a safe haven, the presence of a greater power, and the value of our work. When you plan your programs keep the importance of place in mind. The physicians on your staff often come from the operating room, a patient’s bedside, the family consultation room crushed under a tower of problems and complaints. They have worked long hours. Sometimes their lives are severely out of balance, and they are simply ground into rubble. Sometimes you must help them find them a new place.

Filter the activities of a retreat center

Dear Readers, Please accept my apologies for a considerable gap in the posts on this blog. My wife, Suzy, and I decided that we needed to invest time in a Spanish Language immersion to facilitate our mission activites in Central America. The process was consuming and the blog postings lapsed. Continuing the thoughts from the last posting in September: Your retreat center will become popular. People will want to schedule receptions, bar mitzvahs, church retreats and weddings. Hospital managers will ask to hold planning sessions. You must hold the line. All of these activities will dilute the sacred quality of the place you build. The rule at Seton Cove is that at least 50% of the program must be of a spiritual nature. Our vice president of Mission Services, the Director of Seton Cove, the Site Manager and the Program Facilitator form the Seton Cove council and approve all programming. Build a filter like this into the charter of your retreat center.

The Kitchen

The kitchen is the center of gravity at Seton Cove. People automatically collect there. People feel most at home there and talk with greater ease. Story after story is shared around the kitchen table. People laugh and have a good time. The kitchen is appointed much like a home kitchen. Meals are often included in physician and staff programs but are not prepared in the kitchen. Catering services simplify program planning. Since the caterer’s timing is not usually precisely the program leader’s timing the oven proves valuable for keeping foods warm. In serving the needs of physicians, regard the time in the kitchen as time for them to process thoughts, teachings and discoveries from the formal program. Think of it also as a time for physicians to develop relationships with each other. In this time of increasing physician isolation, relationship building helps build healthy physicians. Therefore, the kitchen helps build healthy physicians.