skip to main content

Having a Say Keeps the Doctor Engaged

Asking the right questions is the first step

by Rick Blizzard

Would patients feel secure staying in a hospital in which the physicians aren't truly comfortable with and confident in their workplace? Probably not, but too often that's the case; improving physician engagement (namely, the loyalty and emotional attachment doctors feel for the hospitals they practice at) is something many hospitals struggle with. But one solution to low physician engagement may be as simple as listening to what physicians have to say.

Here's an everyday situation that illustrates the importance of listening: I go to a restaurant and sit down. Upon ordering, I tell the server that because of dietary restrictions, I'd like my meal prepared a certain way. The server listens to me, then walks off and ignores me for a long time, eventually returning with a meal that doesn't meet any of my special needs. I'd probably never return to the restaurant, right?

Many physicians have just this type of experience with their hospitals. They express concerns to hospital management, and when the hospital fails to act on those concerns, the doctors become angry and disengaged. The solution to this problem is simple -- ask physicians for their opinions, listen to what they have to say, act on the information, and tell them what actions have been taken.

An Easy Way to Improve Physician Engagement

Physician engagement is a measure of physicians' rational and emotional connections with the hospitals they practice at. Gallup has identified four levels of physician engagement:

  • Fully engaged: strongly attached and attitudinally loyal

  • Engaged: lower, but still high attachment and loyalty

  • Not engaged: emotionally and attitudinally neutral, but no positive association with hospital

  • Actively disengaged: emotionally detached and antagonistic toward the hospital

A study of physician engagement results from 20+ hospitals in Gallup's healthcare database illustrates how important it is to act on survey results. In hospitals that had conducted a baseline physician engagement measurement the year before, Gallup asked physicians whether their hospital had "taken action based on last year's survey." Among physicians who "strongly agreed" with this statement, more than 50% were fully engaged, while less than 10% were actively disengaged. Among physicians who "strongly disagreed" with this statement, almost 9 in 10 were actively disengaged and none was fully engaged.

During an era in which doctors are feeling serious external pressure from managed care problems, reimbursement levels, and malpractice exposure, hospitals can make a difference through simple contact. But ad hoc conversations with physicians are not enough. Such conversations may not uncover the real issues and may only represent the opinions of a small number of doctors. Hospitals need to have systematic, ongoing communication with the entire medical staff, and then do something meaningful with the information they collect.

Bottom Line

Asking physicians the right questions is the first step in improving engagement. But hospitals will get no credit for asking questions unless they use the responses. Successful use of information is in the eye of the beholder. Hospitals must not only respond to physicians' needs, but make sure they derive credit for their actions by clearly communicating the link between the physicians' requests and the subsequent actions.


Gallup https://news.gallup.com/poll/15076/Having-Say-Keeps-Doctor-Engaged.aspx
Gallup World Headquarters, 901 F Street, Washington, D.C., 20001, U.S.A
+1 202.715.3030