Medicine is a trying profession. Patient lists continue
to grow, time does not.
The pressure to see more and more
ailing souls increases the chance of error, the consequences
of which can be devastating — to you as well as
those you treat and to their families. William Osler
— best-known physician in the English-speaking
world at the turn of the 20th century — well understood
this when he wrote: "Errors in judgment must occur in
the practice of an art which consists largely in balancing
probabilities."
Have a case that didn't go the
way it should have and it was your fault? Resolve not
to let it happen again and get on with it. Take comfort
from another of Mr Osler's bon mots: "When you
summon up the remembrance of your own imperfections,
the faults of your (colleagues) will seem less grievous."
Not becoming paralyzed by your
failures is one way to keep a clear mind as you go through
yet another busy day. Here are several others suggested
by physicians and by practice management consultants.
FREE
UP YOUR TIME
Don't read all your mail. Ideally someone you trust
will go through your mail for you and eliminate those
pieces that he or she knows will be of little interest
to you. The publications you read can be put in one
stack with another reserved for items that require action
from you. Go through the latter every day using the
'touch it only once' rule. Sign what needs to be signed;
answer what requires an answer; fill out the forms then
and there.
Either set aside reading time for
the publications or grab them from the stack when you
have a moment to read. Note items you want clipped and
filed and assign the task to a personal assistant (PA).
Don't have a PA? Here's a radical idea: turn over mail
sorting/filing duties to your spouse. It's not necessarily
a quick route to the divorce courts. Says a male Regina
doctor who's been doing it for years, "My wife enjoys
doing my mail. She's gotten to the point where she even
vets a lot of the publications and notes the 'must read'
stuff." He adds that mail duty was something she volunteered
to do!
Do your dictation while your patients
are there: pluses include getting it out of the way
immediately and offering the patient the opportunity
to interject if necessary. Something you don't want
the patient to hear? Try phrasing it in an objective
way.
Delegate, delegate, delegate. Rule
of thumb: don't do anything you wouldn't pay a colleague
to do. If it requires an MD after your name to do it,
then do it. Otherwise have a nurse or assistant look
after it.
Solo practice? Too short staffed?
Have a close look at all the non-physician duties you
perform. If they take up a significant portion of your
day it might make sense to hire someone to take care
of them. By freeing up your time you may be able to
see a sufficiently greater number of patients to more
than pay for the assistance.
Take the phone off your desk. Count
the calls you take in a typical day. Giant time waster,
no? If at all possible, have someone else answer the
phone and take messages for you to return at a convenient
time — a telephone hour, for example. A solo practice
in Bridgewater, NS has a polite answering message telling
callers that all calls will be returned between 11:30am
to noon and 4:30 to 5:00 pm. An emergency number is
also given. Says the practitioner: "It rings once in
a blue moon."
Get a high tech-telephone: A Toronto
practice has recently added computer software that automatically
calls patients with a recorded message reminding them
of their appointments.
Tips on how to be more productive
will be continued in the February 15, 2005 issue
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