The Value of Team

Hi Everyone! Happy Valentines Day!

I was reminded today that the stories around my journey to hiring my own staff is helpful to others who are contemplating change.

Given it is Valentine's Day I will start with my wonderful husband. A supportive spouse, who knows you well, is very valuable!

We were sitting at the dinner table with our youngest son (who is now 15!) and my then part-time MOA (medical officer assistant) had recently left for a position at the local hospital. My family piped up and said "you need to hire a new MOA and this time full-time AND she has to do personal assistant duties too!". Bless them! They identified the value from investing in a medical officer assistant.

I have a very complex panel of patients with chronic health conditions and low socioeconomic position (as per my Health Quality Council Alberta report). I work full time but I am in the rural hospital doing ER shifts and I have post call days. Overall that is 4 days in the clinic on average per week.

In addition to clinic staff and Primary Care Network staff and overhead I made plans to hire a private MOA to assist me with complex care plan chart reviews. This person is a college student, with an interest in doing medicine, who works off site. Well that position is going very well.

I then wanted more time in the clinic so I could see more patients. I needed help getting screening and messages done. I asked all my colleagues with MOA's how they used them to full potential and developed flow-charts of how to screen and manage my patient panel. I have a full binder of How-To's!

The process of advertising and interviews was a great learning experience. I don't know how many of you have done interviewing but there is a process to it. I then selected a very good candidate from a choice of good candidates.

It is so nice to delegate tasks. My new MOA loved the recent opportunity to find a holiday home for my parents who are visiting from Australia soon, in addition to her patient tasks. I loved not spending 4 hours trying to pick a holiday home!

But it costs money to hire staff! This discourages many of my colleagues from considering hiring staff. Don't think there isn't any anxiety about it!

As part of my coach training I am prepared to make a commitment and take BIG action. I am not afraid to fail - and I do not mean quit - I mean make mistakes. Mistakes or failures just mean I need to try something a different way until I get that MASSIVE action result!

Each time I have the courage to follow through with my commitment I build capability and then confidence in my abilities in this new area. Author and Coach Dan Sullivan is master at teaching these principles.

I was able to achieve my goals of seeing at least 4 more patients per day AND get home on time. The getting home on time is priceless!

Well there's lots of love in my corner of the world tonight. I love and appreciate my husband of 18 years and my family who know me so well and are fully supportive of my quest to grow and learn. I love my new MOA, I love my previous MOA, I love my off-site MOA and I love the team that I work with every day!

xx Sarah, the Charting Coach

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