Physician Recruiting "War" Ends Hospital Exec's Tenure

Physician Recruiting "War" Ends Hospital Exec's Tenure
Tuesday August 18, 2009
As the physician shortage grows, particularly in primary care, I've watched, first-hand, as the physician recruiting market has intensified over the past several years. If physician recruiting were perhaps a bit more glamorous, it would make a great premise for a reality show, because it is always extremely competitive, often very intense, and even dramatic at times. This recent story of "extreme physician recruiting" in Boston is a case in point.

According to the Boston Globe, Dr. Timothy Crowley, a senior vice president at Caritas Christi Healthcare, learned that three of his hospital?s physicians had been approached by a recruiter, James Blakeley, of nearby Mount Auburn, a competing hospital.

Crowley then left a voicemail for Blakeley, who is a friend and former co-worker, according to the article. Crowley intended for the voicemail to be a joke between friends, but instead, the voicemail was taken as an inappropriate threat of violence. In the phone message, Crowley joked that Blakeley had started a ?war? and should be prepared to lose ?everything you love?.

The voicemail was forwarded all around the recipient's hospital system, and, after a Mount Auburn executive filed a complaint with Caritas, Crowley stepped down shortly thereafter.

Not only does this story exemplify the cut-throat nature of physician recruiting, this scenario also illustrates the sudden downfall of a successful, proven hospital executive. His career suicide could have been prevented, had he simply followed a couple of basic principles of professional etiquette.

What one person considers humor, another may consider offensive. At the workplace, joke with caution!
Never deliver any potentially sensitive information in an email or voicemail. This goes for jokes, complaints, or anything that could potentially be misinterpreted or inflammatory.

Additionally, this story shows how stressful non-clinical medical jobs can be. Even though you're not directly responsible for providing patient care, working as a physician recruiter or a hospital executive can be extremely demanding roles. Only the most committed, tenacious, and savvy professionals prevail in these competitive hospital environments.
Do you think Crowley's departure was warranted, or was it unfair? What would you have done differently if you were Crowley's employer, or the recipient of the voicemail message? By the way, the physicians at the center of this controversy are all still employed at Caritas, their original employer, having never left their posts after being pursued by Mt. Auburn!Physician Recruiting "War" Ends Hospital Exec's TenureSource: www.about.com

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