Clinical teams are the heart of healthcare. As such, they are often counted on for an array of time-consuming tasks, ranging from patient care to administrative duties. Ever-increasing patient volumes, regulatory requirements and insurance paperwork put tremendous pressure on healthcare providers’ already limited time. Professionals who understand the importance of time management in healthcare environments stay up-to-date on tips and tools to better allocate their time.
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Why is time management important in a healthcare setting?
Managing time effectively offers benefits for both providers and patients. For doctors and other healthcare workers, incorporating time management strategies into workflows can reduce stress and resulting burnout, increase revenue while decreasing costs and address different types of tasks more efficiently. Providers able to manage their time effectively may also have more career opportunities than less productive peers.
The patient experience also benefits from effective time management in healthcare. Providers have more time for their patients, who ideally experience reduced wait times and more individualized, focused attention.
While effective time management offers benefits, there are real effects of poor time management as well. Failing to effectively manage resources and responsibilities can lead to overwhelmed providers, a lower quality of care and missed opportunities.
Time Management Tips and Tools for Healthcare Professionals
Time management is a lifelong skill that serves every member of a healthcare organization well, from the newest resident to the most veteran administrator. Implement these strategies to manage your hours, days and weeks more effectively.
Track Your Time
Before you can change your habits, you’ll need to have an idea of where you spend your time right now. Track your time using a simple solution like a spreadsheet or a more robust tool like an app. After a few weeks, you should be able to see trends and identify areas for improvement.
Prioritize Important Tasks
You never know what your day will bring in medicine. Prioritize must-do tasks so they’re already done if an emergency impacts your schedule. You can also set aside time when you’re most focused. If you feel energized at the beginning of a shift, tackle the most important tasks first thing. Or, if it takes you a while to get in the groove of a work day or work week, set aside time later specifically to tackle these must-dos.
Implement the Four Ds of Time Management
- Do: These are the tasks you’re prioritizing because they require your expertise.
- Defer: Also referred to as delay, these are tasks that don’t need to be completed right now.
- Delegate: These are tasks well within your team’s capabilities. You can trust someone else to handle these items.
- Drop: These are tasks that simply don’t need to be done. Remove them from your schedule!
In practice, this might mean hiring additional support staff to delegate to or deferring meetings with pharmaceutical reps.
Embrace Technology
There are dozens of solutions for providers that use technology to make treating patients more efficient and effective. While not every solution will work for you, embrace technology in ways that make sense for your practice and save you time. Examples include:
- Electronic health records (EHRs)
- Scheduling platforms
- Automated billing
- Patient communication
- Telemedicine
- On demand CME
Minimize Task Switching
Despite what you might think, research has shown again and again that multitasking (most likely) doesn’t make you more efficient. In fact, there is generally a “switch cost” of moving between different types of activities. Aim to remove multitasking and distractions from your schedule for more effective time management. Create an environment without physical or mental distractions by closing your office door or creating a location where colleagues know not to interrupt you unnecessarily. You may also want to limit the number of times per day you check your email or answer phone messages. This will help you group similar activities together and limit time wasted moving between different types of tasks.
Plan for Multiple Time Frames
It can feel difficult to plan for a single day as a busy healthcare provider, let alone a week or month. But thinking ahead to what you want and need to accomplish over longer periods of time can be helpful to your overall ability to manage your time.
Don’t Forget About Your Own Needs
Dedicated healthcare professionals often let their own needs fall by the wayside in their efforts to serve patients. Ensure you’re putting your own needs on your to do list—and prioritizing them. Give yourself breaks throughout your work day and set aside time for work/life balance and healthy habits. Even if this takes away from the time you spend practicing, it often makes you more productive in the long term.