Practice Management Curriculum Preface and Purpose

Which Way Now?

"It may be that the road ahead has many paths to choose. The options know no limits. It is really only if you win or lose that is at stake now. Like an army well-trained to meet the enemy, you can march off into battle. After all, chances are 50-50 that you will still be with your first practice after 24 months.

Did you plan your battle well, do your homework, choose the right armor to protect you from the bite of the dragon called OVERHEAD? You are equipped with the most modern weapons, but will they help you to deal with the INTERNAL monsters (personnel and inter-physician relationships)?

Did we forget our battle banner? I should say not! Equipped with a diploma, you need not worry about the tragedies of marketing---after all, you would NEVER be shot by one of your own, since you are so easily recognized.

Now, with armor in place, your practice management classes all attended (and having only slept through HALF of them...), you have the right material to go out and face the dragon. The problem is, in this day and time, there is an uncontrollable enemy that is blowing in from all sides, and that enemy requires us to be prepared and more astute than ever before; that enemy is the winds of change, and it is definitely coming our way."

Yes, your training has taught you to be very good at what you do, but the question now is, did it teach you how to survive and how to choose the next road? Making decisions about career changes, or new steps in your career, are some of the most difficult questions you will ever have to make. So many of us approach these as if they were very minor events.

Though no one can guarantee you a perfect position, hopefully you can minimize your risk of failure by carefully planning for the next step. It is our hope that these practice management materials will help to improve your odds of survival, and allow you to do what you do best---care for the ill and the healthy."

Rodney K. Ison, M.D.