Reframing Contemporary Physician Leadership

The practice of medicine, today, requires transformational skills. Healthcare challenges are no longer adequately addressed by the traditional paternalistic physician role. Healthcare must be physician-led, but patient-centered. Effective leadership must be collaborative rather than authoritarian, proactive rather than reactive.


Most physicians work in environments where current cultural paradigms, such as physician as hero, lead to burnout. Physicians have not been adequately trained in many of the skills necessary for leadership competence and therefore lose agency with respect to important decisions. The pace of technological change impacts physician work in ways traditional workflows cannot accommodate.



This book is a broad analysis into the history, limitations, and possibilities of the healthcare delivery system. Reframing Contemporary Physician Leadership: We Started as Heroes readies physicians for making the necessary changes to transform a system of accelerating cultural and technical changes. Dr. Grace Terrell jumpstarts the conversation about how physicians need to prepare to lead in this complex adaptive system.



You'll learn about the transformation that helps physicians strengthen their ability to lead. You'll take a historical journey through the medical profession and the transitions that brought it to where it is today. You'll gain insight necessary to think through the implications of leadership and current health policy considerations.



Dr. Terrell profiles 11 physician leaders through real-life vignettes to provide concrete examples of physician leaders (and their successes) in the current delivery system. These inspiring vignettes will give the reader a deeper understanding of the historical sources of our current situation and the trajectory of the future state of the healthcare delivery system.