Issue link: https://beckershealthcare.uberflip.com/i/1507870
49 CMO / CARE DELIVERY More physicians adding MBA to leadership formula By Kelly Gooch K eith Gray, MD, has practiced surgical oncology at University of Tennessee Medical Center in Knoxville for 15 years, during which time he has held roles including executive vice president and chief medical officer, chief of the division of surgical oncology, chief of staff and medical director of multiple service lines. Most recently, on July 1 he became president of UTMC, and will become president and CEO, effective April 1. He told Becker's these roles have shaped his journey to the top post. "I was the second member of my division, and I was doing complex cases and found the opportunity throughout my early career to solve problems that existed, whether that was nursing education or building service lines that made our services more accessible to the community," Dr. Gray said. "And in that problem-solving journey, it led to more leadership responsibility." His first enterprisewide leadership role came in 2012, when he was elected chief of staff. He said he realized he was selected based on his clinical acumen and relationship with the medical staff rather than on administrative preparation. "I realized quickly that I was ill prepared to understand the business of medicine," Dr. Gray said. "And I understood pretty quickly that I didn't want any leaders that came aer me in similar roles to feel the way that I felt." is led him to complete an MBA in 2014. He also co-founded and is a graduate of UTMC's Physician Leadership Academy, which emphasizes blending medical and business acumen. Dr. Gray is one example of a growing trend of physicians with MBAs running hospital systems. Overall, about one-third of physician executives have an MBA or equivalent, according to executive search firm Korn Ferry. Fieen percent of CEOs at the 40 largest U.S.-based health systems were practicing physicians before their appointment to administrative roles. Charlie Falcone, MD, is the global leader of the academic sector overseeing the academic medicine, academic health and higher education practices across Korn Ferry business lines. He also served as director of the Korn Ferry Physician Leadership Institute. Dr. Falcone, who has an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill., reported a "profound" evolution of the physician leader over the last two decades. "I got my MBA in 2000, and there were two other physicians in my class at the time," Dr. Falcone said. "Fast-forward to 2023 and if you go into any MBA class, you're going to see far more in the way of representation of physicians getting their MBA." Additionally, physicians are pursuing a master of health administration or a mof public health. All these educational endeavors may help physicians compete with their non-physician counterparts for top C-suite roles, Dr. Falcone told Becker's. "You've got physicians over the course of the last 10-plus years taking more control over the healthcare environment and their destiny," he said. "inking back to when I trained in the early 1990s, physicians were comfortable coming out and practicing and doing that for the rest of their lives. As you move forward and as healthcare became more 50% of new nurses plan on transitioning out of field to pursue side hustle: Survey By Erica Carbajal A survey of more than 1,300 U.S. nurses found about 50 percent have side hustles outside of nursing to earn extra income — and many of them plan on making side gigs their full-time job, according to newly released findings from staffing platform ConnectRN. The staffing platform worked with The Nursing Beat, a newsletter, to conduct the survey, and findings were published Aug. 3. Thirty-nine percent of respondents were certified nursing assistants, 27 percent were licensed practical nurses and more than a third were registered nurses. Four notes: • Half of respondents who were new nurses, meaning they were in the profession for less than three years, said they plan to transition out of nursing and make their side hustle a full-time job. Among all respondents, this figure was 26 percent. • Eighty percent of respondents said they have ambitions to start their own business. • More than half of nurses indicated they want to further their education, but can't due to their schedule. • For 90 percent of nurses, these were the top five factors they indicated were extremely important to them: maintaining their mental health; being present for family and friends; maintaining a work-life balance; maintaining their physical health; and excelling at work. Pre-pandemic, it wasn't uncommon for hospital nurses to have side gigs on their days off, be it paid or volunteer work. In the past few years, however, the nature of the side gig landscape has changed, with many nurses pursuing entrepreneurial endeavors to either cut hours at the bedside or make it their full-time job. n