Time management—a timeless notion for young people and adults alike who have the goal of organizing their tasks in a way that is mindful of the constraints of each day, whether the tasks are presented to them or taken on by that individual.
Answering the Time Management Question
When what should and can be taken on throughout the years is added to the plate of some professionals, there has been an unwritten law: to find a means to the end. When this is mentioned the term “some” is not to note just the average person, but the type of person like a physician or allied health professional. One would ask why them but not another, although if you honestly come a professional that could persevere through the challenging studies of pre-health school work, post-grad work and work the long and difficult work shifts, day in and day out that makes the lamas person believe they can handle any added stress given to them.
What happens though, when the opposite happens? When someone who knows their limits and knows they can handle medical school, residency, and patient care but ends up taking on twice or more the work they agreed in their hearts and past expectations they would ever do? Is it their fault or the system’s?
Is it the physician’s duty then to find a solution to their own potential burnout or the system’s? Are they doomed to fail because healthcare leaders just assume they can “handle the work” or the changes to the way they have worked or ever thought they would need to work? (For example, paper vs. EHRs, shift differences, pandemics, etc.)
Health professionals have been debating this question for some time. Practice and system administrators understandably have a lot on their plate as well—from ensuring the practice or system works efficiently, growing with the ever-changing times, and ensuring inflation doesn’t hurt the core of their business so it can give the care needed to all its patients within the community.
Healthcare leaders have and are still given support for this—from assistants to additional administrative support to ensure all runs smoothly. If they are afforded this much-needed support, shouldn’t providers be given an equal amount of support?
The answer really lies in the result of the root discussion, although many continue to overlook it. If providers get support, will they continue with their job? If providers get support, will they be more productive, which in turn will make them and the practice or system more money?
Study [1]after study[2] has shown that giving support to physicians and allied health professionals can boost productivity, reimbursement, and overall satisfaction[3] for the physicians themselves without compromising patient satisfaction,[4] yet healthcare leaders still combat the issue.
It is true, time management is important; “keeping up with the times” with regards to new technology is needed and expected, but when is too much work literally too much work?
Finding a Solution
Medical scribes can be one part of the solution to the added stress and changing world facing physicians. Scribes have been proven to improve their work-life balance, reduce or even eliminate the added new workloads placed on physicians, and provide the much-needed support to possibly generate more money for the practice or healthcare system.
Ready to learn more?
[1] https://cdn.mdedge.com/files/s3fs-public/JFP07005166.PDF
[2] https://www.bmj.com/content/364/bmj.l121
[3] https://journals.lww.com/ebp/Citation/2022/01000/Does_the_utilization_of_medical_scribes_reduce.11.aspx
[4] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6025675/