Life Hacks for Doctors:
An Introduction
Joshua Schwimmer,
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-
MD, FACP, FASN
Noncommercial-No Derivative Works
www.efficientmd.com
3.0 United States License.

What are Life Hacks?
Productivity strategies that
solve everyday problems —
especially problems caused by
information overload.
Adapted from Wikipedia

Life Hacks Are Often
Simple
Discrete
Nonintuitive
Clever
Surprisingly Effective

Have you ever heard a
lecture on...?
Image: D’Arcy Norman, Flickr

Pheochromocytomas?
Image: Wikipedia

Lectures on
Pheochromocytomas
100% of Doctors.
Tumor incidence =
approx. 5 per million
population per year.
Image: Wikipedia

Have you ever heard a
lecture on efficiency?
Image: D’Arcy Norman, Flickr

Lectures on
Efficiency
Only 20% of doctors,
and most paid for the
lecture themselves.
Source: Sermo

Is there a misalignment
of priorities in medical
education?
Image: Caro Wallis, Flickr

Being a good doctor
depends not only on
who you are and what
you know — but on the
systems you use.

HDR Image: Aurorus Reflectus Colosseo, Stuck in Customs, Flickr

Q. Should you
write “No Scleral
Icterus?”

If it takes you
3 seconds to write
these words on every
patient...

You will spend
3 hours each
year writing
“No Scleral Icterus.”

Is this really the
best way to spend
your time?

Principles of
Productivity

Reflective
Questions

Who is the best
person to perform a
task?

Probably not you.
(Don’t be offended.)

How much is your
time worth?

Example:
$150,000 per year /
60 hours per week *
50 weeks per year =
$50 / hour.
A useful oversimplification.

(Writing “No Scleral
Icterus” is costing
you $150 a year.)

Who should perform a
task?
Someone who can do it well whose
time is worth less than your own.
Always delegate when appropriate.
Don’t make other people do work that’s
rightfully yours.

Create filters or
rules so you never
see tasks that you
should never perform.

HDR Image: Fireworks Over Lake Austin, Stuck in Customs, Flickr

What should you do?

(One option.)

A Better Option
Become comfortable with “to do lists”:
Write them
Rewrite them
Cross items off
Review them often

To Do Lists
Organize different lists by location
Office
Hospital
Phone
Errands
Home

Group similar tasks
together to save time
lost in “task switching.”

Keep a
“mission critical” list
of tasks that must be
performed that day.

The 80-20 Rule:
80% of the effects come
from 20% of the causes.

Concentrate on your
most important tasks.

When should you
perform a task?

If it’s simple and quick,
do it now.

The Calendar
If a task should be performed at a
particular time or on a particular day,
put it on your calendar.
Your calendar is not your to do list.

Parkinson’s Law:
“Work expands to fill the
time available.”

Where should a task be
performed?

Where should a task be
performed?
First, perform tasks that are particular to a
place.
See hospitalized patients in the hospital.
File charts in the office.
If tasks are “mobile,” consider performing
them elsewhere.
Make calls while commuting.
Take paperwork home to review.

Why perform a task?

Rediscover your
motivation.

Why?
Why are you performing this task?
Why are you doing it this way?
Why are you practicing medicine?

Ideas

Most doctors’ desks are
organizational
disasters.

The solution?
Inboxes.
(You went to medical
school for this?)

Inboxes 101
All new labs and mail go in the inbox.
Pick up the top item and deal with it.
Sign and file labs, recycle junk mail,
write down a “to do,” etc.
Never put any item back in the inbox.
Empty your inbox regularly.

HDR Image: Hong Kong, Stuck in Customs, Flickr

An Open Secret:
Most doctors never learn
how to document
properly.

Many doctors live with
constant anxiety that they
are over-coding or
under-coding.

The Solution:
Craft Individualized
Note Templates
New Patient or Consult Notes
Follow Up Notes
Include all the items you need to bill at
the highest level when appropriate.
See wiki.efficientmd.com for more
details.

The Hospital
Routine
Image: Fractal Hospital, Gualtiero, Flickr

Group Your Tasks
Check Labs
Examine Patients
Write Notes

An Example of
Grouping Tasks
Six patients on a hospital floor.
15 seconds to walk to each room.
5 seconds to walk from room to room.

Grouping Tasks
Strategy 1: Examine patient, write note,
repeat.
(15 + 15) * 6 = 180 seconds.
Strategy 2: Group Tasks. Examine all
patients, then write all notes.
(15 * 2) + (5 * 5) = 55 seconds.
Strategy 2 (grouping tasks) saves 8.7
hours a year ($434).

Learn Efficiently

Choose one textbook
for your specialty and
read a few pages
every day.

Keep a list of clinical
questions.
Regularly look up the
answers and cross
them off your list.

Fill an iPod with
medical lectures and
podcasts.
Listen while you
commute.

Sources of Free
Podcasts and Lectures
New England Journal of Medicine
JAMA
Archives of Internal Medicine
HDCN.com
Google on [medical podcasts] and
[grand rounds podcasts]

Refresh Your
Information Sources
Medical Blogs
Google Scholar
Google Book Search
Google Alerts & Google News
UpToDate

For More Information
on Life Hacks for
Doctors
www.efficientmd.com
wiki.efficientmd.com
casesblog.blogspot.com

Thanks.