title: Managerial skills of principal physicians assessed by their colleagues. A lesson from Finland.
abstract: The purpose of this paper was to discover the views of doctors regarding the managerial skills of their principal physicians and the views of doctors of their postgraduate specialist training in management. This was done by sending out a questionnaire to every second physician registered in 1977-1986 in Finland. They were asked to evaluate their principal physician's managerial skills using a visual analogue scale. A five-point Likert scale was used to inquire how much training doctors had received for different professional tasks, including management, during their specialist training. Of all the 318 principal physicians in this study, 85 percent reported that they had had too little training for managerial skills. It was found that doctors in leading positions, both in public hospitals and the primary health care sector, are aware of the need of training for managerial and leadership skills.
authors.affiliation: Kuopio University, Department of Public Health and General Practice, Kuopio University Hospital, Kupio, Finland.
authors.forename: Esko
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Kumpusalo
authors.forename: Irma
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Virjo
authors.forename: Kari
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Mattila
authors.forename: Hannu
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Halila
mesh_terms: D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D004650:Employee Performance Appraisal; D005260:Female; D005387:Finland; D006801:Humans; D007318:Inservice Training; D007400:Interprofessional Relations; D007857:Leadership; D008297:Male; D008330:Management Audit; D009937:Organizational Objectives; D008486:Physician Executives / Q000193:education / Q000592:standards*; D010820:Physicians / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D010934:Planning Techniques; D011361:Professional Competence / Q000592:standards*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis