What doctors need to do to manage their time

2. Where does your time go ?
• Do you make your patients wait
because you are always running late ?
• Do you find it impossible to pursue a
hobby because you are too busy ?
• Are you getting fat because you cannot
find time to exercise ?
• Have you missed your daughter's school
play ?

3. Answers ?

4. Time management for doctors
• Problems have become worse
• Smartphone - expected to be on call
24/7
• Our time is not our own - doctors live
chaotic lives
• Daily wage earners
• No work life balance
• Burnout !

5. The time paradox
•You are the most
valuable resource in
your clinic
•You are the bottle neck
in your clinic

6. Improving your time
management skills
• How do you currently spend
your day. Are you being
effective ? Or incompetent ? Use
an app to track your time, so you
can see where it goes !
• Are you a lark ? Or an owl ?

7. 5 Principles
• Set priorities
• Delegate responsibility
• Say NO !
• Organise your work area
• Don’t waste time !

8. Classify priorities in 4
time categories
•Do it now
•Do it soon
•Put off until later
•Doesn't need to be done

9. 4 Ds of handling Email
• Delete: half of the emails you get can
probably be deleted immediately.
• Do: if the email is urgent or can be
completed quickly.
• Delegate: if the email can be better dealt
with by someone else.
• Defer: set aside time at a later date to
spend on emails that require longer action.

10. Delegate !
• You are the bottle neck in your clinic –
and the most highly paid resource
• What can you get someone else to do ?
• Create clear SOPs with a due date
• Remember there is a learning curve – be
patient and follow up
• Don’t dump your work on an assistant!

11. Medical SOPs –
http://www.freeprintablemedicalforms.com

12. Learn to say No !
• If you don't think you would benefit
or enjoy something, say no
• Chances are, someone else will
appreciate the opportunity to get
involved
• Guard your time – it’s too precious to
fritter away on pointless meetings

13. Is your desk like this ?

14. Simplify !
• Get rid of clutter
• Throw away stuff you haven’t
used in the last year
• Give away useful items that you
no longer need to someone who
will make good use of them.

15. Personal productivity tools to help
you manage your time better
• Time trackers for analysis . When
are you most productive ?
• Apps to improve your focus
• To do lists to track your tasks and
goals
• Tools to help you find everything
you need instantly !

16. Evernote – never forget
anything !

17. To – do lists
• List your tasks , so you can
organise your day
• You feel good when you strike
them off the list !
• 2 tips
–Budget for unforeseen delays
– Block private time for yourself
(meditation)

18. Any.do = Task list

19. Do It Tomorrow = Task list

20. CamCard – Business card
scanner

21. App to help you stop wasting time
on your smartphone !

22. Work smarter, not harder
• Time management is about
behaviour, not time. We all have
only 24 hours in a day
• Match your behaviour with your
priorities and goals
• Like any skill,
it takes time
to master.

23. The 3 buckets in which your
time goes
• Doctoring time = doing valuable
clinical work. When you are in
flow = in the Operation Theater
• Delegate-able time
• Downtime = wasted time. Causes
frustration

24. Make use of your down
time = hidden time
• Time lost while waiting for meetings;
patients; and while commuting.
• Reclaim this time !
• Read medical journals on your
smartphone
• Listen to CME podcasts
• Multitasking !

25. Your poor patients

26. Why are you always running
late ?
• Staffing issues ( insufficient, unreliable,
unproductive staff)
• Emergencies (unexpected complications)
• Scheduling problems (overbooking)
• The heartsink patient –
long list of complaints
and inquiries
• Like making patients wait !

27. 5 Ss of productivity in your
clinic• Style
–How you manage your time
• Staff
• Space
• Signage
• Systems
–SOPs for patient flow

28. Ask your staff for help !
• Brainstorm about the ways that
time is wasted
• Come up with strategies to
reduce these inefficiencies

29. How to make sure you
are always on time !
• The consultation is
free if you are
more than 60 min
late

30. How to make better use of
your time with your patients
• No interruptions when you are with a
patient
• No phone calls during clinic hours
• Return all calls at a fixed time
• Intelligent phone systems for recording
all calls. Cloud based virtual receptionist
• I prefer email – no phone tag

31. Teach your patients to respect
your time !
• Reduce “ no shows” . Help them by
sending sms reminders
• Train your patients to come on time
• Online consultations
• Pre-visit patient coaching – educate
patients through your website so their
FAQs are answered even before the
visit !

32. How to improve
• Learn from colleagues who seem
to have all the time in the world.
How do they do it ?
• Discipline yourself !
• Enemies = Time wasters.
Proacrastination is the first sin

33. Take home message
• Balance your daily schedule
with your overall life goals
• Plan better so you
can spend more
time doing the
things you enjoy