All Physicians Lead - by Leon E Moores (Hardcover)

About the Book

Physicians lead. It's an integral part of what they do. They lead patients, they lead healthcare teams, they lead colleagues, departments, and organizations. But most doctors receive very little training in leadership.

Leon E. Moores, MD, DSc, FACS is a neurosurgeon and seasoned healthcare leader who literally "wrote the book" on physician leadership for the U.S. Army. A West Point graduate, Moores became an officer and a surgeon in the Army and recognized how the lack of formal leadership training for doctors impacts physician effectiveness, team performance, and patient outcomes. Along with a team of highly accomplished colleagues, he created the physician leadership development program that has been widely referenced by the U.S. military. Moores now shares that leadership wisdom, and the lessons he has learned through decades of healthcare organization leadership, with physicians everywhere and with all readers passionate about improving healthcare.

Book Synopsis

Leadership is an integral part of what doctors do.

All physicians lead, not just those with "official" leadership titles, such as CMO or Chief of Surgery. If leadership can be defined as influencing thought and behavior to achieve desired results, then clearly it isn't something physicians work toward only as a later-career goal. Leadership is a skillset physicians practice every day. Whether persuading a patient to stop smoking, a lab to return speedy results, or a surgical team to understand what needs to happen in the OR, physicians lead. Leadership is baked into the job.

In fact, we already look to physicians as leaders. We expect them to make critical healthcare decisions, inspire treatment teams, influence patients' behaviors, communicate impeccably, and be exemplars of professional conduct. Few roles in society carry more built-in leadership expectations then that of physician.

And yet, most physicians receive little focused training in leadership. While clinical skills are drilled into every physician-in-training for years, leadership skills are left largely to chance. All Physicians Lead seeks to change that. Primarily aimed at physicians, it offers an intro course in physician-leadership, using a "concentric circles" model: As a physician, progressing from learning to lead yourself, to leading other individuals, to leading teams, and finally, to leading organizations, can improve healthcare team performance and patient outcomes. Fundamentally, self-awareness underpins every stage of leadership.

The book also speaks to those in charge of medical schools, healthcare organizations, and physicians' professional associations, arguing that leadership should be considered a core competency throughout every doctor's career and structured education in leadership fundamentals should begin the first day as a medical student. Better physician leadership results in higher-performing healthcare teams, improved patient satisfaction, and better health outcomes for patients.

Authored by a prominent neurosurgeon and seasoned healthcare leader who literally "wrote the book" on physician leadership for the U.S. Army, All Physicians Lead is more than a book title, it is a rallying cry for change.

From the Back Cover

All Physicians Lead Every Day...but we may not recognize we are leading.

If you ask 100 physicians to name a physician leader, they will uniformly name a department chair, hospital chief medical officer, or dean. In reality, the day-to-day life of every physician is a series of leadership events. Whether coaching a group of residents through morning rounds, taking an OR team through a five-hour surgery, or convincing a patient to try a new medication, doctors are in the business of leadership, that is: influencing thoughts and behaviors to achieve a desired result. But although we focus on their training and require physicians' clinical skills to be top-notch, we don't recognize leadership as a fundamental skill used by all physicians--and one that impacts team performance and patient outcomes. A few leadership-related courses are taught in most medical schools without an overarching leadership rubric, and many student doctors are too busy learning anatomy and physiology to give even those courses wholehearted attention.

Leadership matters in medicine. Good physician leadership results in better patient communications and higher-performing healthcare teams. Ultimately it leads to better health outcomes for patients. All Physicians Lead argues that the medical community will benefit from recognizing leadership as a core competency for all physicians--not just CMOs and department heads, but for all practicing doctors--and lays the groundwork for accomplishing this. It offers a "clinic" in leadership skills for the working physician and makes the case that a focused leadership training curriculum, grounded in good theory and research, should be an essential part of every physician's lifelong training.

All physicians lead. Now let's train them for it.