Planning an effective department meeting

Traditionally medical staff department meetings start late, participants arrive unprepared, discussion focuses on routine business and reports, controversial topics are raised and then left unresolved, and the meeting is monopolized by a vocal few. Is it really any wonder department chairs struggle to get physicians to attend these meetings?

Keep the following guidelines in mind when creating the meeting agenda:

• Schedule a pre-meeting with assistant and advisors. Meet with medical staff services professionals, directors of quality, and perhaps the vice president of medical affairs and/or chief medical officer. Get their input into what issues the department must address.
• Nothing goes on the agenda without the chair’s approval and a clear goal for that item. Before adding an item to the agenda, the department chair should ask whether addressing the issue would result in real change or improvement. If not, don’t include it. If yes, make clear the goal of the discussion and determine whether it will be a conflict-ridden debate.
• Schedule a pre-meeting with key stakeholders. Don’t wait until the meeting to sit down with folks who have real passion or a vested interest in a particularly thorny issue. Begin with seeking first to understand. Listen, mediate, and seek ways to reach a resolution even before the meeting.
• Create a consent agenda for routine business. When reports need to be passed through committee or when a noncontroversial issue needs to come before the department chair, create a consent agenda. In advance of the meeting, send out all materials related to topics on the consent agenda to allow people to review. At the beginning of the meeting, ask whether any attendees would like to pull an issue off the consent agenda to discuss. If so, discuss the issue to the group’s satisfaction. If not, make a motion to accept the consent agenda, which will result in those issues being excluded from the proceedings.
• Don’t put complex controversial issues on the agenda without adequate preparation. Talk to stakeholders and get needed data. Do your homework and understand what direction the discussion is likely to take. If you know the group will likely not be ready for resolution on a given matter, open the floor for discussion and make clear that resolution is desired but may not be feasible after one discussion.
• Put important items first. There is no need to follow the traditional format of addressing routine or old business first.
• Allot a specific amount of time for each agenda item. Consider the time allotted for the meeting and designate a specific number of minutes to each agenda item. If you stick to that time limit, almost every meeting can be concluded on time.
• Prepare materials needed for decision-making in advance so that everyone can review the information prior to the meeting.

Source: Department Chair Essentials Handbook