Time management tips for the New Year: How to incorporate physician paperwork into your busy schedule.
- This is key, tattoo it on your forehead backwards. You must have scheduled, protected time every weekday in your calendar and cell phone. Defend it with your life.
• I suggest 8 to 9 am or if you have little kids noon until 1 pm while you munch a sandwich.
• Never at night, weekends or holidays.
• Get a quiet place even if it’s your car. No distractions.
• Turn off your phone, email, texts for secretary, nurses, patients, pharmacists, hospital, clinic, nursing homes, family, friends, internet, radio, tv and magazines and stay focused for one hour daily for 5 weekdays.
- Charge $300 per hour for insurance and lawyer’s letters and put it in a special bank account to treat yourself and your spouse.
- Reward yourself when done with a coffee and newspaper.
- Come back a day early from vacation to get caught up.
- Get caught up now by going in Sunday and then stay ahead of it every weekday.
- Bring in patients to help you with chartomegally= big forms for insurance, lawyers and government.
*Includes computer, forms, charting, labs, imaging, consult notes, memos and all the hurricane of crap we live with daily.
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Author byline:
Dr. John Wyatt Crosby has been a specialist in Emergency Medicine and Family practice for 49 years. He is an assistant professor at 3 universities and has lectured world wide 120 times on time, stress and risk management for physicians. He has written 305 blogs for the Medical Post magazine and 3 books on the subject and has mentored individually 123 doctors.