Posts Tagged ‘Time Management’

I was just in a semi-severe car accident on Friday. And if there’s one thing that’ll change your perspective on life, it’s a near-death experience. I will be making a video on my thoughts before, during, and after the crash… my thoughts as a husband, as a father, as a son… as a patient in a hospital, as a doctor, and as a human in general. Until, I finish that video, I found one that is a must-see.

If you’re a parent or if you have parents (which means you), you must watch this video. Although it is not in English, there are very few words… and it has subtitles. The lesson is priceless.

Because of the time constraints we face as physicians and healthcare workers, we run the risk of harming our loved ones. Don’t take them for granted… they may not understand the pressures of being post-call, preparing for presentations, applying for fellowship, etc, etc. They’ve supported you through the years… don’t go through your clinical years of medical school, your internship, and your residency assuming you will have time for family and friends when these milestones are passed. You may be harming them in the meantime.

Watch this video… it’s only a few minutes. Then take a few minutes more and ask yourself the following question: “What can I do today, right now, to improve a relationship with someone I care about?” (even if it is small)

Information and data are increasing at alarming rates. On the one hand, this is great because we are witnessing some amazing advances in health care (and computer science, and communication, etc). However, it is becoming increasingly difficult to navigate through this body of data to arrive at the most relevant, most up-to-date, most easy-to-apply information that is suited to your specific need and specific situation. This is true if you are a doctor, a computer programmer, a world leader, or a secretary.

Many have stopped calling this the Age of Information, and started calling it the Age of Distraction, or the Attention Age. It is not enough to know a lot. Instead, it becomes increasingly important to be able to:

• Find the most up-to-date, relevant information,
• Find it quickly,
• Synthesize or process that information, and then
• Apply that information.

The one who manages information well is the successful one.

For that reason, I thought you might find the following very short video to be a useful one. In it, Rich Schefren discusses the difference between “just enough” information and “just in time” information. This is a very important distinction to make. And once you grasp it, you may find your internship and residency less stressful. Check it out…

You can save yourself and your patients a lot of time if you work on mastering the ability to “get the ball rolling”. Basically, it means anticipating what the next steps are, and facilitating them. Let me give you an example…

Let’s say you are calling a consult. You are post-call and overnight your patient began to experience a change in mental status. Now, you want to call a neuro consult.

Guess what? You will notice that there’s a pattern. When most neurologists come by, they order the same type of stuff when it comes to a change in mental status. They’ll say let’s check a TSH, a B12, a folate, an RPR and a sed rate. Maybe if there’s no recent head CT they’ll suggest that or an MRI. This isn’t a knock on neurologists… it just is what it is.

Anyway, you can get some of that ball rolling by ordering some of those same tests that you know they’re going to order. And this does a couple of things for you… (more…)