Michael Kenihan – författare

This book is for anyone who sees allied health or indeed

professional practice as their chosen career. Should you

be a new graduate or someone towards the end of your

career, you will find yourself somewhere along the path

of the practitioner journey in this book.

The Health Practitioner''s Journey is based upon my

experience as a practitioner who started a professional

career as a sports physio, then worked in multidisciplinary

practices, becoming a manager, then an owner and

developer of allied health businesses. I have used the

timeline from that journey as the basis and structure of

this book, breaking up my career into what I''m going to

call four stages that are represented in the above diagram.

This covers my career from graduation day up until now.

The four stages are:

1. Clinical Excellence

2. Commercial Success

3. Maximise Equity

4. Leverage Equity

The diagram shows a linear path with years indicated

because that was my path. However, I do not see the time

fragments as set in stone, and the time taken to achieve

milestones may be shorter or longer than what I have

indicated.

I have known some practitioners who have paused

their career at clinical excellence or commercial success,

which is absolutely line. They are happy with their work and

are successful in it and pausing there has suited them. Also

note that at the completion of stage four there is more. I have

included a chapter that I call Harvesting Knowledge, where

practitioners have used the skills learnt on the journey to

do different activities in their career, just as I have done.

It is added in 3D because it is relevant and sits behind each of

the four sections, which I will explain when we get there.

I have also used the metaphor of the list as the path.

When you begin practice you build a list of patients to treat.

As you become more competent, you begin to own that

patient list. That means you have loyal patients who will

follow you and ask for you when they need assistance. As

you continue in practice and your list becomes larger, you

develop commercial success.

The next stage is to lead your patient list, which means using new skills to engage others

to work with you in a business that you might commence.

Finally, the list you have nurtured, and taught others to

do the same, becomes an asset that you can sell when that

time comes for you.