The five most common excuses used by GPs and specialists in Germany against changes in practice management

What it’s all about

Efficient and adaptable practice management is crucial for maintaining high standards of patient care and operational success. Despite this, many GPs and specialists in private practice are surprisingly resistant to change, even when there is clear evidence that their current systems are failing. Below are the five most common pretexts and excuses that practice owners use to avoid making necessary changes. Understanding the psychological motives behind these excuses is crucial to recognising the underlying resistance to change.

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Clinical picture of “Goal Deficiency Disorder (GDD)”: German GPs and specialists hardly ever use target agreements

What it’s all about

Benchmarking analyses of practice management show that only 10% of German doctors have a professional goal agreement system. This alarmingly low level illustrates the considerable discrepancy between the requirements of effective practice management and the reality in many medical practices. But what are the concrete disadvantages for doctors in private practice who do not agree targets with their employees?

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Are german general practitioners and specialists masochists?

What it’s all about

Work overload, insufficient remuneration, non-functioning digitalisation, nonsensical health policy regulations and bureaucratisation dominate the complaints of doctors in private practice about their work. They convey the image of a profession that is suffering under its burden. However, a look at the reality of practice operations shows that this need not be the case, as numerous unused optimisation opportunities in practice management often remain unconsidered. This article examines the causes and consequences of this neglect and poses the provocative question of whether doctors in private practice may have masochistic tendencies.

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Efficiency barriers in German medical practices: Personal initiative? No thanks!

What it’s all about

The results of practice management comparisons and the associated employee surveys in German general practitioner and specialist practices show: In many medical practices, the personal initiative of medical assistants is not welcomed and is even consistently discouraged. There are various reasons for this behaviour on the part of practice owners, including both practical and psychological aspects. This article highlights the most important reasons and outlines the consequences.

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LeadNeglection: If there was something similar to a driving licence for employee management, most doctors wouldn’t pass the test

What it’s all about

When reviewing the results from cross-sectional analyses of our studies as part of practice management benchmarking, I repeatedly notice outstanding individual aspects that are already symptomatic in the individual analyses, but whose implications for the healthcare system only really become clear in their aggregated totality. An example of this is the best practice implementation, or rather: non-implementation (“LeadNeglection”) in the practice management action area “Employee management”.

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Survey of patient satisfaction in German medical practices: Two thirds of the results are useless

What it’s all about

Due to an incorrect methodology, the “classic” patient survey used in most German medical practices is unable to provide GPs and specialists with realistic insights into the satisfaction of their practice visitors. As a consequence, this leads to necessary change measures not being discovered at all.

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Are medical assistants modern galley slaves?

What it’s all about

In some german GP and specialist practices, conditions are reminiscent of the dark ages when galley slaves had to toil in undignified conditions. This metaphor illustrates the unfortunately frightening reality to which some staff are exposed according to the results of employee surveys carried out as part of practice management company comparisons. Here is a detailed insight into the factors that individually or in combination characterise the miserable working conditions faced by some medical assistants.

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German medical practices: Realaverism, illustrated by the example of the no-show problem

What it’s about

The term “realaverism” describes the tendency to deny or ignore unpleasant realities and often externalise them. In German medical practices, this realaverism manifests itself, for example, in the way in which the phenomenon of no-shows, i.e. the absence of patients from agreed appointments without prior cancellation, is dealt with.

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The Futurised Practice-Check in German medical practices on the topic of “Leadership”

What it’s all about

The leadership skills of practice owners are of crucial importance for future-oriented GP and specialist practice management. It ensures that employees work together as “real” teams in a motivated, efficient, flexible and successful manner and can thus proactively respond to developments in the practice’s operating environment. But how future-oriented are the futurised practices (which represent a perspective expansion of the best practice standard) of GPs and specialists today? An evaluation of the results of practice management comparisons provides information.

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German healthcare system: Practice teams are stealing their own time

Summary

The article discusses how internal inefficiencies, such as unnecessary mobile phone use during work and poor organizational practices, lead to significant time loss in medical practices, far outweighing the time spent on digitization and bureaucratic tasks.

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