Management lessons from a hospital surgeon

The role of the head of surgery in a highly technical department in the largest hospital in France, which is internationally recognised and has a staff of two hundred people, changes very quickly from that of a teaching physician to a company business manager. This role, to which Pr. Marc-Olivier Bitker was appointed, requires a delicate and demanding balancing act, ranging from satisfying the demands made by hospital administration for cost effectiveness, to the imperatives of providing quality health care, and the legitimate demands of hospital employees regarding their work conditions. Not only does he have to rely on training in managerial techniques, the head of surgery also has to rely in particular on his personal qualities and compassion. Looking back on nearly ten years of experience, Marc-Olivier Bitker gives a series of management lessons which the audience listened to with rare pleasure.