Gratitude from patients…

Its one of the main reasons why I love my job.  This even comes when I’ve referred patients to other doctors for ‘better care’.  One involved a toddler with burn scar to the hand… they were referred to Shriners in Sacramento and have been receiving the best of care and at no extra cost to them.  Another had a bad experience with breast reconstruction locally and was told she should explore Dr. Buntic in the Bay Area where free tissue transfers are done routinely.  Both of these patients have been quite appreciative to have been directed there rather than myself  ‘trying my best’.  It takes humility to know when to refer someone elsewhere.

Why corporations fail

This is my cleansing blog… to finally vent about how things went down as I chose to leave my old group, Plastic Surgery Associates of Redding.  We were formed in 1993 and lasted 17 years before it came apart.  Here are some lessons to avoid when forming a corporation:

1) Have like minded people when choosing partners – this means they should all be in the same boat when it comes to treating people, managing business, and accepting responsibility.  There were partners that did not answer their pagers in a prompt manner, those that did not know what financial responsibility is, those that were not interested in increasing their skills, or correcting recurring problems and complications that developed as a result of this.

2) Nepotism – avoid this at all costs.  Never have family work where one supervises the other.  It lead to ‘oversights’ of activity that bordered on criminal and resulted in extremely poor morale of other employees due to the favoritism that was displayed.

3) No compete clauses should have an expiration – but this did not stop me from leaving and going to Red Bluff for 18 months.  In fact, it created new opportunities that have allowed me to have much more flexibility in scheduling.  But a no compete clause (which is supposed to protect proprietary information which there is none in plastic surgery) after working together for 17 years should have expired perhaps after 10 years together.  It was designed to be a handcuff since I sacrificed a considerable amount financially to leave… but as they all say in the end, it was well worth it.

4) Partners should be fiscally responsible to each other and the corporation… you don’t go out and make a major purchase when you are in debt to the corporation.  And you don’t sit on your butt expecting patients to find you when you could have gone out to beat the bushes a little.

5) Oversee your manager… do not let your manager give unauthorized raises to family, do not let your  manager install spyware on the bosses computers, do not let your manager have free reign because you’re too busy to check on your manager, do not let your manager mismanage personnel, and the list goes on

6) Corporations should run by democracy, not autocracy.  And if you ever experience a situation where one feels he should rule everything, its time to get out.

These and many other issues led to my decision to leave (as opposed to their story that I was asked to leave, lost my license, etc).  Your patients should always be your top priority but unfortunately for some, they were not.   If my old corporation ever reads this, I would be more than happy to retract anything that is proven not to be true.