Our time doesn’t just depend on us. In a doctor’s day-to-day life, fatigue, stress, interruptions and real life keep intervening.
Managing handovers, planning work then re-planning it, all have to be done in the context of:
1. The random nature of work - identifying real emergencies; taking opportunities to do several things at a time safely; disruption of our focus.
2. Other people - communicating purposefully; confronting difficult personalities and behaviour; handling disagreements positively.
3. Our behaviour and attitudes - how we feel on the day; immediate past experiences; strengths and weaknesses, and previous successes and failures.
Shared learning on time management
Doctors need to look on time management as learning a ‘personal specialty’. Invest enough time to learn how to plan the process. Unless you do you will never be truly effective. Try to learn with your medical peers. If only one person in the group is trying to improve their effectiveness it is difficult to make an impact. Don’t just try to do something faster. Concentrate instead on developing useful habits.
Keeping a time log
Consultants need to find out how they are currently using their time. Until you do, you can never identify unproductive periods, far less eliminate them. Log activities under selected headings (no more than ten) and record daily for around a month or until a rough pattern emerges.
Examples of time log headings
Key Main activity Including:
I Inspection Ward rounds, patient visits
E Education Study periods, conferences
M Meetings Committees, handovers
A Administration Patient notes, forms, emails
Doctors then have to analyse the data it produces. Look for the unnecessary demands, recurring interruptions, outside influences which ‘steal’ your time. Aim to take action. Examples of typical time stealers include:
1. Procrastination/indecision/lack of planning/unfocussed activity
2. Unpunctuality/forgetfulness/too easy personal access
3. Unclear personal objectives/untidy workplace/lost paperwork
4. Fear of failure/perfectionism/poor attitudes/cynicism/negativity
The impact of work practices
It’s not only personality traits that steal time. Poor work practices can also have a massive impact on our success in managing time. Examples of poor work practices stealing our time include:
1. Inadequate or poor communications/untrained staff and colleagues
2. Bureaucracy/ disorganised managers/low work standards tolerated
3. Information overload/missing or incorrect information
It is easy to ignore the importance of organising our own work correctly. But unless the big tasks are being completed as priorities, no amount of skirmishing with time will solve our problems. We should look at our own attitudes and working inclinations to ensure we build useful habits rather than poor ones. Consultants have to determine what’s important to them rather than just ‘urgent’.
Useful habits
1. Articulate - explain clearly to those involved what you’re doing.
2. Delegate - don’t do it all yourself; train others, they’ll take responsibility.
3. Start - if you start a planned task on time, the chances are you’ll finish it.
4. Finish - forget perfection, doing your best will be good enough if it’s on time.
5. Say ‘No’- limit people’s access to you; encourage them to think for themselves, rather than dump on you.
This is the first article in a three-part series.
Bob Mathers provides non-clinical communications training for health professionals. Email Bob on bobmathers@btinternet.com or call 07816 230 213.
Tags: Time management
