The Health Practitioners Journey Model

When I was planning  the structure for my book, “The Health Practitioners Journey” I thought about how a career in health practice usually unfolds. I thought it would be easier to explain by breaking it down into four stages.

Stage 1

The foundation of a successful career needs to be one of becoming as clinically excellent as possible.

Whomever I worked with, I reinforced that initial credibility as a practitioner comes from having a degree of mastery of the technical/clinical aspect of the craft. I also advise that years 1 and 2 from graduation are not about focussing on what you earn as the primary goal, but on building your clinical ability.

Stage two

Focus on commercial success where you start earning more and become busy.

The focus for stage two becomes more about developing referral relationships and gaining return patients. There needs to be some training from mentors and others for this stage. Maybe even some short courses that relate to commercial matters of customer service, finance and business development.

Stage three

Direct your career towards starting your own business to maximise equity.

This stage may not be for everyone. If you are comfortable with stage two and earning a satisfactory salary then you may choose to continue practicing where you are but if drawn to start something for yourself, commence a new challenge and apply the new knowledge then stage three maybe a natural progression for you.

Stage four

Leverage your asset by selling the business.

At some point you may want to realise the value of your asset by selling the business. You may continue working but with the business you started in the hands of someone with new energy. Stage four may mean retirement but may also be about new opportunities too.

If you have worked hard in the stages outlined above along the journey you will have harvested knowledge. Such knowledge will be invaluable as you move on to new challenges or want to grow the assets you have created

I use the metaphor of the “list “ as practice clinicians have a “list of patients/clients” that they see, particularly in private practice. In stage one you build the list, then in stage two you own your list, in stage three you lead your list, and finally in stage four you sell your list.

The notation at the base of the model indicates a timeline but this was never meant to be interpreted as tightly linear, many practitioners dip in and out of the stages or stop at a point in the journey where they find their satisfaction.

As I mused about the stages of the journey, I thought that perhaps the best way to convey the stages was by developing a model for the journey. That model is the essence of this book.