Author: Christie Scott

 ISBN: 978-0-9793971-0-3

Christie Scott is a successful businesswoman as well as a Certified Life Coach with specialized training geared towards coaching medical doctors. She also holds Advanced Certification as a Human Behavior Consultant and her presentations have helped the careers and practices of hundreds of medical doctors around the United States. Scott has now published a much-needed workbook manual focusing on the business side of operating a medical practice with her Against All Odds: Conquer The Healthcare Battle.

Scott begins with the premise that unfortunately many medical doctors suffer from exhaustion, burnout, and lack of quality time with their families-something that they did not plan for when they entered the medical profession. Part of the blame for this can be attributed to the fact that medical doctors are quite clueless when it comes to opening up  and operating their practices, managing their employees, and maintaining profitability.

For the most part, medical schools devote very little or no time to the business of operating a medical practice and thus it is no wonder why medical doctors are very often poor business people.                       

However, with this excellent guidebook fear no more, if you are a medical doctor and are intimidated by the business side of running your practice, Scott's workbook manual has come to your rescue with concrete strategies and solutions that will provide you with an effective game plan, as long as you heed her advice, complete the various questionnaires and create action steps in order to implement the various suggested strategies. 

Crammed with dozens of tips and suggestions, the book's compact 172 pages are conveniently divided so that each chapter presents an examination and exploration of a specific area of the business side of a medical practice.

Beginning with with one of the most important steps, taking stock or where you are now and how you plan to implement change, Scott explores focusing on one's ambitions. Her approach is that one should not ask why is something happening but what can be done to effectively improve the operation of my practice.

From here Scott next tackles fear, which is one of the great barriers to change. Scott provides solutions as to how to overcome fear when contemplating making changes. As is the case with all of the chapters, there is a series of questionnaires that are vital to complete even though they may feel uncomfortable or time consuming. Remember the old adage, no pain no gain.

Another section of particular interest to doctors is the one dealing with combating battle fatigue where, as Scott astutely remarks, "if you suffer from the symptoms of extreme stress or burnout, then the practice will immediately start to suffer!" Readers are presented with the top ten ways you know you are burned-out and what to do about it.

Employee turnover is always a factor in running a profitable medical practice, and as with the case of any business, these turnovers can prove to be very costly in time and money. Scott examines in this section the reasons for employee turnover and how to change the situation.

In the chapter devoted to effective communication, Scott reviews the ramifications of employees that exhibit poor communication skills and even sometimes rudeness. What does a doctor do about these employees? Does he or she fire them or does he try to have the work together as a team? 

The final chapter is devoted to coaching and why one is important in the acceleration of personal and business development. As Scott points out, coaching focuses on moving you forward in your desired direction.

Refreshingly free of business jargon, clearly laid out, and well written, Against All Odds: Conquer The Healthcare Battle may not be the last word on profitably managing a medical practice, however it is an excellent starting point. Scott's presentation is informal with an easy to follow conversational text offering countless tips and sound advice. Probably the chief value of the book is its  many questionnaires, which must be completed in order to reap the full benefits from the book. These aids are wide in scope and admirable for their practicality and relevancy to the abundance of material that is presented.

I may add that although the book is aimed at the medical doctors, there is no doubt that it will prove quite beneficial to anyone managing a professional practice as attorneys, accountants, dentists and others.

The above review was contributed by: The Publisher & Editor of Bookpleasures.com, Norm Goldman, B.A. LL.L, Retired Title Attorney: Norm is also a travel writer and together with his artist wife, Lily, the couple meld Norm's words with Lily's art. To check out their travel site click on Sketchandtravel.com   Click here to view Norm’s Reviews & Interviews.

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