Question: Recently, the Hospital’s CEO and the Emergency Department Nurse Management have been totally consumed by their disappointment with the ED’s key performance metrics. As Emergency Department Medical Director (EDMD) and President of the Emergency Medicine Practice, I want to help achieve the needed improvements and have some ideas about what needs to be done. ...

In part two of this response, I focus on the systemic issues involved when considering the replacement of a medical director in the emergency department and what to do about them. Part Two: Removing the Obstacles When considering whether to replace the EDMD, look for procedural, financial or organizational impediments to leadership performance. What historical ...

Question: Our Emergency Department Medical Director (EDMD) is one of the original members of our Emergency Medicine Practice. He’s primary care trained like most of our Emergency Physicians and is Emergency Medicine Board Certified but not by the American Board of Emergency Medicine. He’s practiced clinically here for years and has been the EDMD for ...

Question: Our Emergency Department Contract is coming up for renewal later this year.  We’re pleased with the physicians that are here providing the coverage, but after several years of waiting the Contract Management Group (CMG) still hasn’t recruited enough full-time doctors to fill all the shifts. They seem more intent on selling their services to ...

Question: Several years ago our local Emergency Medicine Group faced a crisis.  After considerable investigation and evaluation, it was concluded that the best means of retaining the Emergency Physicians was for the Hospital to employ them. All of the doctors became employees at the same time so all of the employment contracts have the same expiration ...