A typical day in the life of a woman in medicine is filled with numerous decisions about tasks that need to be done. Some of these include:
- Decisions about a patient’s diagnosis
- Next steps in evaluation
- How to explain a diagnosis in a way the patient can understand
- How to explain treatment and non-treatment options
- How to explain information such as results or findings on studies that have been ordered
- How to give bad news
- What task to do next (ex. answer a patient call, review a lab or imaging result, contact a colleague about a patient issue, etc.)
- Whether or not to fulfill a particular patient request such as work accommodation, etc.
- When to complete the charting after a patient encounter
- What paperwork to complete and when
- What appeal letters to write to insurance when treatment gets denied
- When to do the peer-to-peer request when orders are being questioned or not approved.
- When to talk with the pharmacy about a refill request
This is not an exhaustive list by any means, but as you can see, a work day in medicine is filled with nonstop decision-making that can take up almost as much time as the tasks themselves.
It’s no wonder you feel mentally exhausted by the end of the day. You really do have “decision fatigue”.
One way to reduce this fatigue is to make your decisions much simpler. You can decide that you are only going to do tasks that ONLY YOU CAN DO and delegate tasks that others can also do. Essentially, what this means is that you decide to work to your degree and let others work to theirs.
If there’s a task that both you and your nurse can do, you allow the nurse to be in charge of that task. If there’s a task that you, the nurse, and the medical assistant can do, the medical assistant can take charge of that particular task.
Now this does NOT mean that there is anything wrong with someone working below their degree and this is NOT to create a heirarchy among teams that implies one group is any better than another. This is absolutely NOT the case and every single team member is essential and important.
But if you are trying to create more efficiency, better access to great health care, and better patient and staff satisfaction, then why not have everyone work to their degree as much as possible which can help achieve these goals?
Now I realize this is not an ideal world and there are massive staff shortages, particularly in medicine, and not everyone has the luxury of having enough help to be able to delegate many of these tasks. I realize people call in sick at the last minute and others have to shift around tasks and responsibilities so that the work can get done. I realize some people may be upset being asked to do things they are not used to doing or may feel uncomfortable with certain tasks.
While all of this may be true, I also realize that if you look at your work day and all the tasks that you do right now, I am almost certain there are some small tweaks you can make. Even if these tweaks take more time or energy or money up front, it will save much more time, energy, and money in the long run.
If there is someone in your office you work with, ask yourself what tasks can they do that you don’t have to do and what tasks can someone else do that this person does not have to do.
Here are some things I used to spend time doing that I mostly no longer do:
- Write return to work letters
- Fill out forms (I have to review the form and sign it, but I do not need to complete most of them)
- Be the first to respond to a patient call, refill request, etc.
- Do certain vital signs like orthostatic blood pressures (now I leave the room and kindly ask a medical assistant to do this while I write up the patient chart which only I can do and then go back to see the patient)
Five minutes here and ten minutes there really adds up over time. Making this one decision to do my best to work to my degree has saved me so much time over the years. These are all things that I used to do earlier in my career and things NO ONE ever taught me to question.
I can’t get those hours back now, but hopefully I can challenge you to look at your day, see what things you are doing that only you can do and what things you are doing that others can also do and make some changes today that will save you time tomorrow.
What are the things at work only you can do?
What are the things at work that you’re doing that someone else can also do?
