Are you living your medical practice mission statement?

Many physician medical practices havve a mission statement. A mission statement will incorporate what your practice core values and goals are.  It doesn’t have to be long, doesn’t have to be profound…….it does have to be realistic and attainable.  A mission statement is more than a slogan, less than a strategic plan; but should incorporate both ideals and commitment.

Once you have mission statement, do you LIVE the mission statement? How you put that mission statement to work in your practice, how you incorporate both the ideals and values into every interaction, every transaction, every encounter defines your culture.

Sounds pretty simple doesn’t it? The problem however is that most physician practices I see do not live their mission statement. Want proof? It's very easy – all mission statements can be turned in to a questionnaire. You can create this questionnaire and give it all employees and providers to complete. For example, part of your mission statement may say "We treat all of our patients with compassion, empathy, and respect." This can be turned in to a simple question: Do we treat our patients with compassion, empathy, and respect on a daily basis?

If you  have a mission statement, I challenge you to turn it into a questionnaire and give it out to everyone to complete. Hopefully the answers won't surprise you.