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.
Jen Barna MD
Board-certified practicing radiologist, founder and CEO of DocWorking, and host of top ranked DocWorking: The Whole Physician Podcast.
