The Journal of medical practice management : MPM
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Retirement provides many opportunities for physicians in this stage of their lives. This final installment of the three-part series on retirement discusses the post-retirement options that physicians can avail themselves of when they leave the conventional practice of medicine. We will also provide a checklist for the retiring doctor.
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Several models of scheduling have been documented in the literature, including the traditional model, the carve-out model, and the advanced access model. We describe the implementation of the advanced access model in our clinic, which has been very successful. Advanced access has decreased third next available appointments to less than seven days for many of our providers and has increased individual primary care physician continuity for 40% of our providers. Interestingly, we had no gains in patient satisfaction, which is consistent with other previously published studies on advanced access.
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Rituals can cement the identity of and strengthen the bonds between any people, including the members of the medical practice team. This article presents the idea that the medical practice manager is in the ideal position to create and use rituals for team building. ⋯ As well, it describes six benefits of rituals and the hallmarks of the most effective team rituals; describes seven creative and interesting corporate rituals that medical practice managers can study for inspiration; suggests 20 excellent opportunities within the medical practice calendar year for medical practice team rituals; and identifies six kinds of rituals that are used in organizations. Finally, this article provides a four-step action plan for ritualizing your medical practice team's morning huddles.