When your organization’s core values align with your own, you feel inspired and motivated. And in the field of medicine, it doesn’t get much better than that.  For Dr. Kairam, pediatric emergency medicine physician and associate director of the Gagnon Children’s Emergency Department at Morristown Medical Center in New Jersey, finding an organization that focuses on both patients and clinicians, invests in emerging leaders, and fosters gender equity and diversity was paramount. In joining the Northeast Operating Unit of Envision Physician Services, Dr. Kairam succeeded in doing that.

Joining a Provider- and Patient-Centered Organization

When Dr. Kairam was offered a position within Emergency Medical Associates, now part of Envision Physician Services, she immediately knew she wanted to be there: “They were attractive as a group. I already knew many of the great physicians in the group and got to see internal aspects of the company. They were provider-friendly, including clinicians in decision making, making them part of the process. The environment was collegial.”

Cultivating and Supporting Emerging Leaders

Although Dr. Kairam is an administrator now, she hadn’t considered leadership until others recognized and identified that potential within her. She was surrounded by colleagues who actively supported her in developing her skills as a physician and a leader—mentors, both female and male, who supported advancement of women in leadership.

“[I] had the opportunity to be in the Emerging Leaders Program, attending several conferences in person and online. This was invaluable. I felt the leadership development opportunities were made for me. The training, courses and mentors provided skills for how to deal with multiple issues that come up when managing a department. They helped me learn to be more organized and thoughtful about specific situations and gave me a baseline and background on how to tackle those issues.”

Focusing on Both Patients and Providers

Dr. Kairam has an interest in both the patient and the clinician experience. She notes that communication with patients and families isn’t typically part of medical school or residency training and is learned through trial and error, but that it’s particularly necessary—especially in pediatric emergency medicine. She wants to share the integral skills learned with other clinicians to help support not only the medical care, but also the emotional and psychosocial aspects for patients and caregivers.

Dr. Kairam says Envision Physician Services enables her to pursue this passion of hers through the Patient Experience Committee. She appreciates that the committee is “not only focused on patient experience but also includes the clinical side. Organizations are often only focused on metrics and getting patients to be happy, but they do so at the expense of the clinician.” Dr. Kairam is proud of the committee for holding providers and patients as equally important to the process and for their work in sharing resources and education for providers within Envision on patient and clinician experience.

Fostering Gender Equity and Diversity

Dr. Kairam believes Envision Physician Services has made strides to advance women and diversity in medicine within the company: “Envision has programs, workshops and presentations that teach skills for how women can move into leadership roles. These are helpful not just for women, but also for men in the room to see that they have a role in helping women advance—because all of the research and literature shows and supports that diversity at the top leads to better management and outcomes in general for all types of companies.”

Being Part of the Envision Team

As for her overall satisfaction in establishing a career within Envision, Dr. Kairam says she appreciates not only the opportunities she has been given, but also “the dedicated, hardworking, professional people who really want to do the right thing for patients.” Further, she feels Envision tries to support the front line clinicians as best as they can. “It’s hard from a management standpoint when you see loss of revenue, but their priority during the peak of COVID in our area was about getting the clinicians what they needed to the best of their ability. They worked hard to preserve the front line clinicians while cutting costs at the upper levels. This was much appreciated.”

To learn more about how Envision Physician Services can support your EM career goals, connect with our emergency medicine leadership at ACEP20.

For more information about Envision Physician Services, visit our website.