Master Classes for Medical Managers - Derek Burke

Medical management roles are usually taken on initially in addition to clinical duties. Some doctors go on to become full time managers. Many doctors aspiring to become medical managers will undertake courses in various aspects of management; some will undertake full medical management master’s degrees. If we took several medical managers from similar backgrounds who had all undertaken the same master’s level degree in medical management and followed them up for several years after their degrees, we would likely find a high degree of concordance in their practice. However, as each manager has a different personality profile and will have encountered different type of management problems each would have developed their own “style.”

Musicians, as an example, who reach a high level of proficiency will start to undertake master classes with individual expert musicians. The aim of these master classes is not to copy the style of the expert, but to be exposed to a wider array of styles form which they can choose elements which they would wish to adopt into their performances.

Medical managers rarely have the opportunity to “shadow” a more experienced medical manager in an analogous way to a musician. It is the aim of the book to enable a medical manager to expose themselves to different perspectives on medical management form expert managers. Like the musician the aim is not for them to copy one style, but to allow them to choose elements of the styles of several experts to adopt into their own practice.

By choosing medical managers from the NHS, independent sector and those who have established their own medical provider organisations we aim to give the reader exposure to the widest range of management styles and views.

The book will aim to provide chapters from 15-20 medical managers form the range of backgrounds outlined above.