Journal of Healthcare Management - May/June 2013 - (Page 163)

I ntervIew redesign. I think process improvement as executed, for example, by Baldrige, is an ideal systems approach to achieving the necessary reorganization. The third area of concern, and a difficult one to address in academia, is interpersonal skills. We need to make sure that as we graduate individuals, they have the interpersonal skills to be effective leaders. Dr. O’Connor: What are your thoughts on the relationship between the profession of healthcare management practice and the academic programs in health administration? Dr. Dolan: Both need to be more involved with the other. Academics should have at least one continuing activity in a healthcare delivery setting. When I was the department chair at Saint Louis University I felt it was important to serve on the governing board of a hospital, and I served on one for six years. I learned an immense amount from that experience that I was able to bring into the classroom. Short of that, one can serve on committees of a healthcare organization as well. One activity I assigned students to complete during my time as an academic was an on-site project at a healthcare delivery organization. Clearly, it was an experience for the students, but it was also an experience for me as a faculty member. It is important that professors make the effort to develop these types of experiences. By the same token, it is important that practitioners make an effort to be involved with the programs. Unless you teach a unique course, I am a believer in classes being taught by full-time faculty with practitioners on hand to supplement the learning, rather than practitioners trying to teach a whole course solo. It takes a lot of effort and preparation to do that. However, I cannot think of many courses that could not be enriched by having a practitioner giving at least an occasional lecture. Then, the practitioners and their organizations need to be serving as the laboratories for those field studies we mentioned, as well as for administrative internships, residencies, and fellowships. In my perfect world the two groups would be interacting much more often than they do now. Dr. O’Connor: As president of the International Hospital Federation, tell us about this organization. What are the key goals that it seeks to achieve? Dr. Dolan: IHF has been around since 1929. It was moribund during World War II, and its modern iteration was launched in 1947. It is a worldwide body for hospitals and healthcare organizations that seeks to develop and maintain a spirit of cooperation and communication among them with the primary goal of improving the health of society. IHF offers two levels of membership. It has full members, and these tend to be nations, typically represented by their national hospital association or ministry of health. IHF has nearly 40 full-member nations. For example, the United States is represented by the American Hospital Association (AHA). I was elected by IHF’s General Assembly to a six-year term as a Governing Council member of IHF. After the fourth year, I was asked to become president-elect of the organization, and I’m currently president. IHF also has 70 associate members, and these can 163

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Journal of Healthcare Management - May/June 2013

Journal of Healthcare Management - May/June 2013
Contents
Interview with Thomas C. Dolan, PhD, FACHE, CAE, President and CEO, American College of Healthcare Executives
Equity in Care: Picking Up the Pace
How Might a Reforming U.S. Healthcare Marketplace Threaten Balance Sheet Liquidity for Community Health Systems?
Assessing the Productivity of Advanced Practice Providers Using a Time and Motion Study
A Positive Deviance Perspective on Hospital Knowledge Management: Analysis of Baldrige Award Recipients 2002–2008
How to Improve Breast Cancer Care Measurement and Reporting: Suggestions from a Complex Urban Hospital
The Fear Factor in Healthcare: Employee Information Sharing

Journal of Healthcare Management - May/June 2013