One way to increase physician autonomy and job satisfaction

Physician autonomy, the feeling that you are self-directed and can positively affect your work, is crucial to fostering job satisfaction and a culture of continuous quality improvement and creative problem solving. Unfortunately, physician autonomy is shrinking in many health care organizations, in part because teams are too big and workflows and changes are being dictated from the top down.

Here's one solution: “Amazon adheres to the rule that any new business should be built by a team small enough to be fed with two pizzas,” writes solo family physician Douglas Iliff, MD. “I'm with Jeff Bezos. You don't have to be in solo practice to do this. Large groups can grant autonomy to small ‘practice pods’ that are nimble enough to take action.”

Assembling physicians into small, empowered teams is a win not only for the physicians but also for the organization, which will benefit from having a more engaged and happier physician workforce.

Read the full FPM article: “How to Be Happy in Practice for 30-Plus Years.”