What do sick care professionals want from innovation and entrepreneurship executive education?

Sick care professionals want innovation and entrepreneurship education for many reasons, including career advancement, perfecting non-clinical knowledge, skills, abilities, and competencies, to make more money, to thrive in independent practice, to make better investments or to restore their joy of medicine. There are many offerings, including MBA programs, online courses, certifications, and executive education courses. They are designed for different customer segments and try to do the jobs enrollees want them to do.

There are 3 categories of the demographics and psychographics of physician entrepreneurs: the young and the restless, the desperados and the old and the grumpy. They each require a different value proposition to meet their expectations.

Executive education programs offered by business schools are generic or customized for specific clients or associations.

Customized sick care professional executive education programs should:

1. Be domain and sick care professional specific
2. Meet the objectives of physician entrepreneurs and their expectations at the time of their careers.
3. Be affordable and accommodate the scheduling and opportunity costs of time
4. Accept the realities of medical association and client turf wars
5. Fill the blank spaces of competitive offerings
6. Be designed and taught by sick care professional alumni and advisors for other sick care professionals
7. Have clear, immediately relevant learning objectives and outcomes
8. Take advantage of onsite regional benefits
9. Offer top notch hospitality amenities
10. Be part of an alumni continuous learning platform, not just a one-time offering that includes access to resources, networks, mentors, experience, job offerings, peer support and executive coaching.

11. Take advantage of dropout docs opportunities i.e. medical school and residency dropouts, those that elect not to do a residency and those clinicians who plan to have shortened clinical careers stoked by FIRE-financial independence and retire early. Give Plan B doctors a roadmap and medical students an exit ramp.

Medical schools and residency training programs have been slow to fill the gaps in workforce needs and wants. Executive education programs in collaboration with medical associations and societies have an opportunity to do it right.

Arlen Meyers, MD, MBA is the President and CEO of the Society of Physician Entrepreneurs