Are you overwhelmed with the amount of work you have to do in your day to day life as a doctor? Delegating is OK in theory but sometimes you find yourself doing jobs which are not really in your remit. It’s too easy to start to feel sorry for other members of the team who just like you are also overworked. However you won’t be helping anyone in the long term if you help out by doing someone else’s job instead of addressing what needs to be done to change the system.
What do you do when, for example, the practice nurse refuses to take the bloods and you end up taking them all? Ask yourself: Whose job is it? Are you covering up for the inadequacies of the system by doing someone else’s job? How do other practices manage? Are you ordering too many tests?
Another practice might solve the problem by employing another person specifically to take blood. Another asks patients to come back the next day or at another time for another appointment specifically for blood to be taken with no problem because that’s their system and the patients know how it works.
You can introduce and put another system in place. It takes about three weeks for it to become automatic. Think of the time you spend doing things that don’t need your qualifications – and decide to put new boundaries in place. You can improve your time management skills with Coaching CLICK HERE to find out more.
What difference would doing this make to your life? What will you do in the time you free up as a result?
