Time management is a challenge for doctors who are expected to be on call 24/7 with chaotic lives and no work-life balance. This can lead to burnout. The document provides several tips for improving time management including tracking how time is currently spent, setting priorities, delegating tasks, learning to say no, organizing your work space, classifying tasks into urgency categories, and improving focus with productivity apps. The overall message is that with discipline and planning, doctors can balance their schedule to spend more time on important tasks and less on wasting 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