CPD Course educator and business, brand and marketing specialist, Darrin Davies has travelled the country helping hundreds of practitioners to build successful practices. He’s not afraid of a healthy argument along the way.
I am constantly surprised by two things as I travel Australia delivering CPD education for Doctors.
1) How truly altruistic and caring Doctors are;
2) how little most practitioners know about the business of being in medicine.
Let me explain. More than three years ago a Brazilian businessman was invited to address a large gathering of doctors in Sydney. The topic was wealth generation strategies and entrepreneurial idealism. Julio De Laffitte had gained a great deal of attention in the media for his vision and bold statements on Australia’s economy and the benefit of hard work and individual retirement planning.
During question time Julio was asked a question around finance and lending. The question amazed him. “I was asked what a mortgage offset account was? I couldn’t believe that such an intelligent person did not know the basics of finance and how much money they could save with a few tips.” Soon after MediGrow was born and Julio’s company JDL strategies became a partner in the process.
“I couldn’t believe that such an intelligent person did not know the basics of finance and how much money they could save with a few tips.”
While that question may have been a one-off, the questions keep flying at each CPD event. Not just the questions, sometimes there’s hostile disagreement and argument. Inevitably they turn out to be the moments where learning is maximised.
It doesn’t need to be emphasised that Medical Practitioners spend a great deal of time and money on their studies. By the time you treat your first patient you’re all studied out. But who teaches you the basics about how to run a practice? Or how best to communicate with a patient and staff? How to safely take and store private information? Or even how to lawfully advertise their practice and use Facebook without falling foul of the law? We know that some subjects are touched on during all those years of study but understandably clinical education is almost paramount.
What can be overlooked by some is the need to have some basic accounting, marketing, communication, taxation, social media, and financial skills. Many of those same skills are needed by all who operate in our society. Doctors need additional knowledge if they want to operate a practice, minimise their tax and maximise the profitability of what they do.
Where the heat can come into a CPD activity is when a Doctor with a track-history of doing it their way realises it’s not the way the regulators intended. Many a light-bulb moment has followed a brief but feisty clash with educators over the text-book way versus the way it happens in their practice.
Speaking as an educator I welcome each and every learning confrontation – because it means our attendees are listening and disagreeing, then learning. Not many great lessons are conveyed in an atmosphere of disinterest and disengagement. Bring on the clash I say!
“Not many great lessons are conveyed in an atmosphere of disinterest and disengagement. Bring on the clash I say!”
MediGrow holds CPD courses for Doctors, Practice Managers, Nurses, AEP’s and Dentists around the country. To register www.medigrow.com.au
