BMJ  2003;326:1214 (31 May), doi:10.1136/bmj.326.7400.1214-b

Letter

Doctors and managers

Clear strategy is needed, as Turkish experience shows

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

EDITOR—Doctors and managers share a common goal: patients' health. Doctors focus on patients' ultimate wellness regardless of cost. Managers focus on systems securing patients' access to health considering limited resources. These views complement each other.

At Baskent University Hospital, Turkey, we believe that a well functioning doctor-manager relationship delivers real service improvements.¹

Firstly, we develop vision, mission, and goals with patients' wellbeing central to our deliberations.

Secondly, we define and map critical processes for hospital departments and create quality improvement teams. Managers, doctors, and nurses participate in these teams, which set priorities, develop healthcare indicators, and propose outcomes for programme evaluation. We hope for a system that responds to patients' needs, operates on evidence based standards, reduces medical errors, contains costs, and in which we are all accountable.

Finally, commitment and a clear strategy supported by top management transforms the relationship between doctors and managers into a win-win . . . [Full text of this article]

sevala@baskent-ank.edu.tr

Public Health Department, Faculty of Medicine, Baskent University, 06490 Bahcelievler, Ankara, Turkey

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