From Classroom to Bedside:
Cross-Training Surgeons to Address Complex Healthcare Challenges
Fayez Quereshy with his wife Nariman Malik
The healthcare landscape in Ontario is strewn with challenges: rising health costs,
an aging population, and human resource shortages have cumulatively reduced healthcare
accessibility. There is current need for surgeons cross-trained in academic disciplines
complementary to medicine in order to optimize healthcare delivery. The Scholarship
in Surgery Program is a novel platform that enables residents to explore academic
curricula outside of the conventional surgical arena. In the Department's 2006 Annual
Report, Dr. Ben Alman notes "many advances in medicine come from the application
of knowledge from areas initially unrelated to medicine". Best practice principles
from parallel industries can reduce healthcare costs, improve surgical efficiency,
and enhance patient care.
Given the unique challenges within the healthcare sector, the Rotman School of Management
has developed a unique interdisciplinary Health Sector MBA. The program's didactic
curriculum is summarized in Table 1. Internationally recognized for innovation in
research, Rotman's 'Integrative Thinking' model dissects complex business problems
in order to achieve novel solutions(1). Foundational coursework in finance, accounting,
economics, marketing, and strategy are necessary to understand the multi-factorial
influences shaping modern-day commerce. Rotman's first year curriculum culminates
in the Integrative Thinking Practicum where business theory is directly applied
to a 'real-life' challenge. The second year of the program allows students to concentrate
coursework in one of a variety of specializations. The Health Sector MBA provides
trainees with the necessary tools to understand the healthcare environment from
multiple perspectives: the government, service providers, and the patient.
My experiences at the Rotman School of Management have stimulated my research interests
in systems optimization, surgical efficiency, and health policy. Leveraging best
practices from parallel industries can optimize service delivery. The innovative
application of industry knowledge will transform Canadian healthcare toward efficient
and effective management of patient care. Southwest Airlines' practice of process
standardization yielded increased revenues, cost containment, and improved customer
satisfaction; these principles in healthcare can increase patient throughput, limit
post-operative complications, and maximize resource utilization.
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As surgical residents in Toronto, we are trained to employ evidence to deliver the
highest standard of patient care. Given the acuity of our patients and limited human
resources, we are often left with little time to reflect on the system-wide challenges
that constrain the efficiency and effectiveness of our efforts. The Rotman School
of Management has provided me with the foundation to better understand healthcare
challenges and begin to explore creative solutions. By complementing evidence-based
medicine with evidence-based management, we can optimize the return on our investments
in improving the delivery of patient care.
(1) Dean Roger Martin provides a more detailed explanation of the Integrative Thinking
model in "How Successful Leaders Think" (Martin, R. 2007. "How Successful Leaders
Think." Harvard Business Review 85(6): 60-67.)
Fayez A. Quereshy, MD
Resident, Division of General Surgery
MBA-Candidate, Rotman School of Management
TABLE 1: ROTMAN MBA CURRICULUM
MBA Curriculum
Year 1
- Organizational Behaviour
- Micro/Macro/International Economics
- Corporate Finance
- Corporate Strategy
- Marketing Strategy
- Financial Accounting
- Managerial Accounting
- Operations Management
- Statistics
- Leadership and Ethics
- Negotiations
- Integrative Thinking
Year 2
- Healthcare Strategy
- Healthcare Economics and Policy
- Healthcare Marketing
- Healthcare Consulting
- Life Sciences Commercialization
- Advanced Negotiations
- Financial Management
- Financial Statement Analysis
- Entrepreneurship
- Top Manager's Perspective
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