If you’re a woman in medicine reading this, you’ve probably spent your entire academic career going for that “A” in class or even “A plus” if it was available. You’re an overachiever, no doubt, and in your mind a “B” stands for “bad”, does it not?!?
Believe me, I know. I’ve been there. Just ask my husband who makes fun of me about the single “A minus” on my entire college transcript otherwise full of “As”. He thinks it drives me crazy (it did). Little does he know that I approached the teacher after the final grade came out, upset about that “minus” and was told that mine was the highest grade in the class. I was not appeased as it tainted my “perfect” record and my husband does not let me live it down.
Well I’m here to tell you that it’s time to drop that mindset if you want to get things done.
What got you into medicine will not get you home from medicine.
Mindful Doc Mom
What got you into medicine will not get you home from medicine.
When you try to do everything perfectly, everything ends up taking much more time than it needs to, and that goes for your charting at work.
Now I’m not suggesting you don’t bring your “A” game to the table when it comes to patient care. Of course you want to show up in the best way possible for your patients, keeping up with your field and being willing to look up anything you don’t already know.
What I am suggesting, however, is when it’s time to document your visit, your notes don’t have to read like a well-polished novel.
It’s okay to have poor grammar.
It’s okay to misspell words.
It’s okay to have run-on sentences.
It’s okay to not have sentences at all and just have bullets or dot phrases.
It’s all okay.
Remember that the purpose of your note is to document what happened during the visit including your plan in a way that you understand so you can take care of the patient and in a way others understand so they, too, can take care of the patient.
The rest is all fluff and the fluff is not important.
The more you make the fluff important, the more time your notes will take and the more behind you will get.
Aiming for “B minus” work versus “A” work will get the job done and be effective.
You are not here to win the pulitzer prize in writing. You are here to take care of the patient. Period.
Another place where perfectionism in documentation may show up is when you try to have everything nice and tidy in a clean package, so to speak, before you actually close the chart.
I used to do this all the time early in my practice and I also spent many unnecessary hours working nights and weekends.
If something came up in the visit that required me to discuss with another physician, such as getting approval from a patient’s specialist before starting a new drug, I would wait until after I had the conversation to document it in my note and close my chart. This could take days with back and forth calls.
What a waste!
Now if I have to speak with another doctor about a mutual patient, I just document in my note that I will do so … and close the chart. After our conversation, I will addend my original note or put in a new brief note documenting the conversation.
I also used to put off closing my charts if I was making a decision on treatment plans or if the patient was making a decision and either of us needed more time to research and decide. I would wait until the decision was final before I would close the chart.
Now if I need more time to research something or if the patient does, I just document the options we’re considering or document what was decided and then later place an addendum or a new brief note.
This all may seem really obvious to people who naturally do this and it seems obvious to me now, but I can assure you that there was nothing obvious about any of this to me fifteen years ago or probably even ten years ago when I was consistently up working late writing my notes.
I can also assure you that the nuances of documentation and getting charts closed was not mentioned once during any of my years of training.
Many high achieving women who also suffer from imposter syndrome have a strong desire to have everything perfect and nicely complete before pressing the close button on their work.
I strongly encourage you to fight this desire tooth and nail and aim for “B minus” when it comes to things like charting. This will make a HUGE difference in your quality of life and longevity in your career.
If you’re ready to shift your mindset when it comes to perfectionism and imposter syndrome, you can schedule a free Zoom call with me at the link below to find out more.
