Dear Director,
I’m trying to take a real vacation this summer and get away from the office, but I have a hard time disconnecting from my cell phone and email.  Is it OK for me to fully disconnect, and how can I go about doing it responsibly?

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Dear Director,
We’ve tried LEAN techniques and “thin slicing” but our average productivity still lags behind other EDs in our hospital’s network. What are some ways we can get docs to work more efficiently?

Dear Director,
I recently had my annual evaluation and it left me confused. It was entirely based on numbers and metrics, yet I feel I need to define my career success by more than that.

Dear Director,
I’ve started taking care of the physician-related complaints for my department. How do I decide if and when to adjust a patient’s bill?

Dear Director,
I took your advice and met with my hospital CEO. Now he has asked me to evaluate my performance and the ED’s performance last year and give goals for this year. We hadn’t set up any formal goals and while I think I do a great job, I suspect he’ll want more than that. What should I be measuring?

Dear Director,
I’ve been a chairman for several years and had a great relationship with our former hospital president who left last year. I’ve had a hard time getting to know and communicating with his replacement, and I think this has hurt the progress our department has made. What recommendations do you have for getting my message heard?

Dear Director,
I recently received a complaint from a patient saying that I violated their privacy by asking questions when their family members were in the room. I thought if they let their visitor walk back with them before I saw them, they were allowed to hear our conversation. Am I in trouble?

Dear Director,
I’m completing my residency and as I look ahead at my first job, I just can’t see myself jumping right into a traditional ED setting. I want something more exciting; I want to travel. Is this a feasible dream? What are the consequences of delaying my first “real job” for a couple years?

Dear Director,
Although I’ve been a chairman for a while, I feel like I don’t have enough time to get all my administrative work done and I’m getting behind. How can I improve my efficiency in the office when I‘m wearing my chairman‘s hat?

Dear Director,
I know we’re not always going to agree with each other in the ED, or with the specialists that we call, but there are some physicians in our department who seem to find conflict at every turn. What are some strategies for keeping the peace while still fighting to advocate for our patients?