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Advice for dealing with Clinical Manager


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I have recently started my first job after graduation, and I am struggling to deal with the clinical manager. She tries to micromanage everything in the clinic and has unreasonable requests from me. 

 

Does anyone else have an overbearing clinical manager? How do you deal with him/her?  What are the responsibilities of a clinical manager in regards to managing a PA. I am new at the work environment, and need help adjusting.

 

Thank you!

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Guest Paula

The collaborating physician is the one who should be overseeing your medical care as a new grad and deciding how many patients you see and staff with him/her.  A clinical manager might be the one who signs your timecard if you have one and deal with employee related issues?  What specifically is the clinical manager micromanaging?  What type of practice are you in?  Do you have a staff that helps you such as your own MA or LPN who assists you and makes your job more streamlined?  What are the unreasonable requests?

 

As far as I'm concerned you should be treated with the same privileges that the physician has and if the physician is not micromanaged like you, then you need to discuss roles and responsibilities with the clinical manager and physician together. 

 

Hopefully the clinical manager and physician are not married to each other or related. 

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Basically your work for your supervising physician. We treat our office manager like an HR administrator who handles our pay, vacation requests, etc. It would be best if you talk with your SP and have him or her make it clear that, by state law, he or she directs your activities.

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tough one

 

if the doc does not want to have any role in the office manager and will not back you up you are in for a tough time.

 

Sometimes it merely takes you standing your ground - "NO I will not add on a patient at 5pm" and then refuse to see the patient

 

 

can be a really tough situation

 

 

 

You might stand toe-to-toe with her on medical issues, but this is probably below the level you want to be doing and will be destructive in the long run....

 

really need to figure where you doc stands on this - you might be able to push back some, but if the doc doesn't back you up it will be tough

 

more details - ie your age, her age, genders (yes it makes a difference), rather prior PAs have stuck around, 

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Any other info on this?  Clinic managers can be a struggle.  I was employed by a hospital my first 3 years out of school, in an ortho practice.  The clinic manager who had been hired on while I was deployed tried to treat me as part of the staff.  We locked horns a few times; she wanted to micromanage some silly things (There is no cell phone use in clinic... this thing has most of my reference material on it, please go away while I'm working!).  She was a significant part of my changing jobs.  I now work in occ health- clinic and staff provided by the hospital, medical staffing provided by my boss (the doc) and 3 other providers.  I have zero interaction with the clinic manager, as he does not employ me.  Its a great set up!

 

Often, the issue is that the clinic manager doesn't understand that you're NOT staff, you are a provider and generate income for the practice. 

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This can be an issue. For me, I just told the manager, at more than one location, "no" and "it's my license" and "go away." But I have a strong personality, produce, and I'm confident. Your position in the pecking order has a wide range but if you don't like it and he/she is given influence over you. Find a better work environment. Your opportunities are UNLIMITED!!!! Don't settle! The other choice, do what I do and always recommend they discuss it with the medical director if they don't like it.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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A lot depends on the role that she has been given. Is this a private practice or a hospital owned practice? Has the owner given her rule over PA's in the past? What type of practice is it? That makes a difference also. Learning the political ins & outs of an office can be challenging. In my first job the office administrator was very smart. I had to learn to work with her. She had control over the office staff. I took everything to my SP and did not go through her. She did try to micro manage me, but in hindsight I had a lot to learn and she taught me a ton.

 

 

 

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Basically your work for your supervising physician. We treat our office manager like an HR administrator who handles our pay, vacation requests, etc. It would be best if you talk with your SP and have him or her make it clear that, by state law, he or she directs your activities.

 

^ That sounds great on paper, but I'm willing to bet the clinic manager has the power to fire her. So really, she works for the clinic manager.

 

One thing a clinic manager CANNOT do is direct your patient care. She has no authority to do that. Scheduling...kind of a grey area. 

 

I agree that he/she should stand their ground on clinical matters and unreasonable scheduling. But the reality is you have to tow the line to a certain extent with these clinic managers if you want to keep your job. It's an unfortunate political game we all have to play sooner or later. Don't let them bully you, but don't be too brash and find yourself jobless. It may help to go through the medical director with problems and bypass HR for many issues.

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