What’s wrong with the way we’ve been doing it? My patients will never stand for it. That way lies disaster. That’s the most cockamamie idea I’ve ever heard. You can do what you want, I’m doing it the way I’ve always done it. My staff will never stand for it. Fuggedaboutit.
There are so many ways to say no, and there are physicians on every medical staff who feel it is their job to put forth every one of them every time they’re presented with a new idea. James Reinertsen, MD, president of The Reinertsen Group and a senior fellow with the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, has heard them all, and he has two pieces of advice for dealing with the naysayers:
#1. Give them a voice in a forum where it’s safe to listen to their negative opinions.
“Keep a list of those people and have them on an ad hoc committee. When you have an issue that requires change, call a meeting and ask for their help: ‘You people are really good at telling us what’s wrong with things, so we want you to tell us everything you think is wrong with this proposal. We think it will work and odds are we’re going to go forward with it, but we want to do it right.’
“Maybe 80%-90% of what you hear will be in the ‘it’s a communist plot’ vein, so you listen to it without heeding it. But 10%-20% of it is going to be pure gold – all the things you didn’t think about that will make your idea even better. Chances are, these people still won’t be happy with what you do; they’re not happy with much of anything. But at least they won’t sabotage it.”
#2: Let the other physicians deliver the bad news.
“Go before a meeting of the medical staff, or that portion of it affected by the proposed change, and put it to them in a straightforward fashion: ‘John here thinks this is a communist plot. How many of you agree with him?’ If everybody raises their hands, you know you’ve got a real problem. But if nobody does, then John has just gotten the message from his peers, without you having to give it to him.”
You can reach Dr. Reinertsen at jim@reinertsengroup.com.