Life Hacks For Doctors

Slide 1: 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.

Slide 2: What are Life Hacks? Productivity strategies that solve everyday problems — especially problems caused by information overload. Adapted from Wikipedia

Slide 3: Life Hacks Are Often Simple Discrete Nonintuitive Clever Surprisingly Effective

Slide 6: Have you ever heard a lecture on...? Image: D’Arcy Norman, Flickr

Slide 7: Pheochromocytomas? Image: Wikipedia

Slide 8: Lectures on Pheochromocytomas 100% of Doctors. Tumor incidence = approx. 5 per million population per year. Image: Wikipedia

Slide 9: Have you ever heard a lecture on efficiency? Image: D’Arcy Norman, Flickr

Slide 10: Lectures on Efficiency Only 20% of doctors, and most paid for the lecture themselves. Source: Sermo

Slide 11: Is there a misalignment of priorities in medical education? Image: Caro Wallis, Flickr

Slide 12: Being a good doctor depends not only on who you are and what you know — but on the systems you use.

Slide 13: HDR Image: Aurorus Reflectus Colosseo, Stuck in Customs, Flickr

Slide 14: Q. Should you write “No Scleral Icterus?”

Slide 15: If it takes you 3 seconds to write these words on every patient...

Slide 16: You will spend 3 hours each year writing “No Scleral Icterus.”

Slide 17: Is this really the best way to spend your time?

Slide 18: Principles of Productivity

Slide 19: Reflective Questions

Slide 20: Who is the best person to perform a task?

Slide 21: Probably not you. (Don’t be offended.)

Slide 22: How much is your time worth?

Slide 23: Example: $150,000 per year / 60 hours per week * 50 weeks per year = $50 / hour. A useful oversimplification.

Slide 24: (Writing “No Scleral Icterus” is costing you $150 a year.)

Slide 25: 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.

Slide 26: Create filters or rules so you never see tasks that you should never perform.

Slide 27: HDR Image: Fireworks Over Lake Austin, Stuck in Customs, Flickr

Slide 28: What should you do?

Slide 29: (One option.)

Slide 30: A Better Option Become comfortable with “to do lists”: Write them Rewrite them Cross items off Review them often

Slide 31: To Do Lists Organize different lists by location Office Hospital Phone Errands Home

Slide 32: Group similar tasks together to save time lost in “task switching.”

Slide 33: Keep a “mission critical” list of tasks that must be performed that day.

Slide 34: The 80-20 Rule: 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes.

Slide 35: Concentrate on your most important tasks.

Slide 36: When should you perform a task?

Slide 37: If it’s simple and quick, do it now.

Slide 38: 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.

Slide 39: Parkinson’s Law: “Work expands to fill the time available.”

Slide 40: Where should a task be performed?

Slide 41: 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.

Slide 42: Why perform a task?

Slide 43: Rediscover your motivation.

Slide 44: Why? Why are you performing this task? Why are you doing it this way? Why are you practicing medicine?

Slide 45: Ideas

Slide 46: Most doctors’ desks are organizational disasters.

Slide 47: The solution? Inboxes. (You went to medical school for this?)

Slide 48: 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.

Slide 49: HDR Image: Hong Kong, Stuck in Customs, Flickr

Slide 50: An Open Secret: Most doctors never learn how to document properly.

Slide 51: Many doctors live with constant anxiety that they are over-coding or under-coding.

Slide 52: 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.

Slide 53: The Hospital Routine Image: Fractal Hospital, Gualtiero, Flickr

Slide 54: Group Your Tasks Check Labs Examine Patients Write Notes

Slide 55: 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.

Slide 56: 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).

Slide 57: Learn Efficiently

Slide 58: Choose one textbook for your specialty and read a few pages every day.

Slide 59: Keep a list of clinical questions. Regularly look up the answers and cross them off your list.

Slide 60: Fill an iPod with medical lectures and podcasts. Listen while you commute.

Slide 61: 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]

Slide 62: Refresh Your Information Sources Medical Blogs Google Scholar Google Book Search Google Alerts & Google News UpToDate

Slide 63: For More Information on Life Hacks for Doctors www.efficientmd.com wiki.efficientmd.com casesblog.blogspot.com

Slide 64: Thanks.