Helping organizations support, retain and advance women physicians.

Services – Consulting

Women make up more than 50 percent of medical school classes and have been shown in some studies to achieve better patient outcomes than their male colleagues. And yet medicine as a profession is not working for many women. They hold fewer top academic and leadership positions and have higher rates of professional burnout. They spend more time with patients (2 minutes per patient on average) and yet are consistently paid less. Within seven years of completing residency, 40 percent have cut back or left medicine entirely.

Given the heightened focus on advancing equity and inclusion and the expense of replacing physicians who have left practice, supporting and retaining women physicians is more important now than ever before. The pandemic has added new stressors for these dedicated professionals: anxiety about their personal health and that of their families, grief over so many patient deaths, physical and emotional exhaustion, financial concerns, the learning curve associated with virtual visits, and increasing responsibilities for their children’s care needs and education.

Addressing the unique needs of women physicians will:

  • Advance gender equity and inclusion in your organization
  • Increase physician loyalty and retention, thus reducing the costs associated with recruitment and onboarding 
  • Prevent the reduction in professional work effortassociated with burnout  
  • Demonstrate to women physicians that leadership respects and values them and their contributions
  • Reduce the attrition of women physicians (and their patients) to other organizations
  • Stabilize the workforce in the face of upcoming financial and operational changes

I am a former primary care physician, a certified coach, and change agent. Here are some of the ways I work with organizations to proactively support women physicians and advance gender equity and inclusion:

  • Help executives and board members better understand the big picture in terms of gender equity and the benefits of proactively retaining and advancing women physicians
  • Conduct a needs assessment via interviews and shadowing to identify specific challenges that women physicians face in your department or organization
  • Engage and enlist women physicians in consideration of current challenges and potential solutions
  • Work with leadership teams to develop a strategic approach for addressing the identified challenges
  • Partner with leadership, as well as equity and inclusion and wellness committees, to develop a specific implementation plan
  • Facilitate coaching groups for women physicians to address specific internal challenges such as work-life balance, imposter syndrome, perfectionism, and boundary-setting
  • Provide 1:1 coaching to accelerate leadership development

I can help you identify key leverage points to address the top challenges that women physicians face today. Identifying and addressing these challenges is critical to their building or regaining the bandwidth needed to provide high-quality, compassionate care to the patients you serve. 

Schedule a 30-minute Complimentary Discovery Session with me and explore where your organization may be falling short in supporting and retaining women physicians, where you need to be, and some strategies to help you bridge the gap. I promise you’ll leave this working session with greater insight and real value.

Contact me to schedule a 30-minute complimentary Discovery Session.

Even when Dr. Shannon is addressing diverse members of the health care team, her clear approach to our occupational health crisis motivates and empowers her audience to take collaborative, positive action.

Laura Garelick, MD, Chief, Family Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital, Needham, MA

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The Challenges Women Physicians Face: What’s Needed to Shift from Striving to Thriving.

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Diane W. Shannon, MD, MPH, PCC

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