Studies

Communication skills and negotiation competence of physicians compared to executives in nursing:

In our daily work, we notice that physicians do not regularly communicate their personal situation, satisfaction with their current job, salary expectations, etc. at the beginning of the confidential contact. Respondents often keep very much to themselves. It is not always easy to enter into trusting, constructive communication. First offers often decide about interest or a direct rejection of the candidate without being questioned.

The same applies to salary discussions between candidates and their potential future employers. Here, we as consultants are increasingly called upon to act as “honest brokers”. This negotiation situation in the sometimes non-tariff area is often unfamiliar to physicians for management positions and a contract actually desired by both sides would be difficult to achieve without our support. We mediate in the case of differing salary expectations, manage sometimes excessive salary expectations and steer the process.

Negative patient evaluations very often criticize clinicians for inadequate communication of diagnoses and treatment options.

Our search projects for management personnel in nursing paint a different and much more positive picture in terms of communication and negotiation skills.

In the current study, we are investigating how the communication skills of physicians in hospitals compare to leadership personnel in nursing overall and what the reasons for the differences may be.

Date for publication: May 2023