What are the best time management strategies for physicians?
After all, you work long and stressful hours with heavy workloads and plenty of demands.
But you DON’T have to sacrifice your time, well-being, or health to get it all done.
You just have to master time management for physicians.
And today, you’ll get proven systems to help you do just that. Thousands of people have used these strategies to get more done in less time.
Want to learn more? Let’s get started!
💡Key takeaways:
- The average physician works 50 hours per week, and 48% have experienced burnout in the last year.
- Time management is crucial for physicians who want to lower their stress levels, improve patient care, and avoid burnout.
- Some of the most effective ways to improve time management for physicians are delegating, prioritizing, automating, and time blocking.
Why is time management important for physicians?
Physicians work an average of 50 hours each week doing things like:
- Caring for patients
- Ordering tests and analyzing results
- Performing basic procedures
- Providing health advice
- Administrative work, including paperwork and charting
Over 50% of physicians don’t have a healthy work-life balance, and nearly half have experienced burnout in the last year.
So, how can physicians reclaim their schedules and lives?
With time management.
Time management for physicians has been shown to improve:
- Stress levels
- Productivity
- Well-being
- Quality of care
- Job satisfaction
- Work-life balance
I’ll teach you how to use time management next, so keep reading!
9 time management strategies for doctors
Do you find yourself working long hours but feel like there’s nothing you can do about it? Like you just never have enough time?
We’ve been there, and so have our clients.
Like Jennifer, a doctor who wanted more time to reach her goal of opening a diabetes clinic.
For years, she couldn’t focus on her goal and never felt like she had the time to work on it.
But using the systems she learned in the Lifehack Tribe and 60-Day Lifehack Bootcamp, she had reclaimed enough time to open her dream clinic in less than a year!
It’s all about learning to implement the right time management strategies.
And by doing just that, you lower your stress levels, improve your work-life balance, and get more done in less time so you can focus on what matters – family, friends, and hobbies.
Without further ado, here are the best methods of time management for physicians.
1. Delegate
As a doctor, it can be nerve-wracking to let go of some of your responsibilities.
I get it – patients are counting on you!
But have you considered that some of your tasks are actually keeping you from your patients?
After all, physicians only spend 66% of their time on direct patient care.
So why not delegate the tasks that don’t require your expertise to colleagues or other team members who can handle them?
Think of it as a way to free up your time for more important tasks.
But there are two things you need to be sure of before you delegate tasks:
- That you’re choosing the right team members
- That you’re being as straightforward as possible in your instructions and expectations
That way, delegation doesn’t turn into more work for you.
I’ll teach you how to delegate well in this quick video:
But you can outsource more than your professional responsibilities.
Outsourcing personal tasks, including errands, house management, and laundry, can give you even more free time.
2. Prioritize the right tasks
The key to finishing ALL of your tasks?
Knowing how to prioritize them with intention.
And I know – everything on your to-do list is crucial, and every task feels equally important.
But instead of just mindlessly attacking your tasks or starting with the smallest ones first, approach them with leverage.
Leveraging your tasks means asking yourself, “Which of these tasks can I complete to make everything else easier?”
I recommend choosing one priority with the most leverage and finishing it by Tuesday. That way, you have the rest of the week to handle the others.
Demir and I talk about leverage – and give real-world examples of it – in this video:
Still trying to decide which task is the most important?
Create what I call a Champagne Moment to figure out what really matters to you. 🍾
Which of your tasks would you buy a bottle of champagne to celebrate finishing?
That’s your champagne moment.
I’ll show you how I use it in this video:
After prioritizing your tasks, rank them in order of importance!
I use the 1:4:5 rule:
- 1 important task
- 4 mid-level tasks
- 5 low-level tasks
✍️Learn to write effective to-do lists in this guide.
3. Automate with technology
Leveraging technology can streamline your workflow and handle mundane tasks to free up your time.
They can help improve:
- Diagnostics
- Efficiency
- Error rate
- Patient care
- Productivity
Here are a few apps and software to think about:
- DeepScribe: Automatically transcribes conversations and turns them into detailed clinical notes.
- DrChrono: Cloud-based electronic health record (EHR), telehealth, and billing software.
- SimplePractice: A web-based EHR platform for scheduling, documentation, billing, and communication.
- Kareo: Customizable platform for clinical, billing, and patient engagement.
- ZocDoc: Handles online scheduling, intake forms, and marketplace services.
Research suggests that physicians can also use ChatGPT (with caution). Hear Demir talk about it here 👇
4. Block time for specific activities
Even though multitasking doesn’t work (or even exist), physicians still spend one-third of their days trying!
In reality, they’re rapidly switching between tasks, increasing their risk of stress, legal, clinical, and procedural errors, and prescribing mistakes.
You can’t afford those things when someone’s life is in your hands.
So instead of multitasking, try pre-planning by calendarizing your tasks, or assigning each to a specific time slot.
When you have a plan, you know your tasks will get done without procrastination or chaos.
Here are some things you can calendarize:
- Patient consultations
- Charting and documentation
- Team meetings
- Administrative tasks
- Research and reading
Demir and I swear by this method and do it every Sunday, and we’ll teach you to do it in this video:
📅Read more: The Lifehack Calendarizing Process
5. Consolidate similar tasks
One way to make calendarizing your tasks even more effective?
Task batching.
And because every recurring task can be paired with at least one other, it’s a foolproof way to improve time management for physicians.
For example, you could consolidate tasks like:
- Patient charting and reviewing lab results
- Reviewing and creating patient care plans
- Prescription refills and patient follow-ups
- Billing, insurance, and administrative approvals
So, how do you start task batching? You could:
- Dedicate specific time slots for similar tasks
- Assign particular types of tasks to certain days
- Prioritize by task type
- Set time limits or play the Sticky Focus Game
And automate what you can, like scheduling or reminders, to free up time for other essential tasks.
6. Communicate effectively
You already know that good communication skills can improve the patient experience.
But it can also improve time management for physicians!
Why?
Because it’s the only way to put effective boundaries in place.
Boundaries don’t make you a less productive, successful, or helpful doctor – they do the opposite!
Boundaries lead to work-life balance and create a more structured, manageable work environment.
So, where can you start putting boundaries in place?
- Patient consultations: Choose specific time slots for consultations and stick to them to keep your schedule under control and avoid burnout.
- Your availability: Making it clear when you are or aren’t available for meetings and discussions will help create a more efficient workflow with uninterrupted time.
- Communication policy: Let your team know how and when they can contact you and when they can expect a response.
When you set clear expectations for your patients and colleagues, you’ll get into a smoother, more organized workflow.
Demir talks a bit about why you should have a communication policy in this quick video:
7. Systematize patient care
No matter the task you’re handling, the core of it is patient care.
So, to stay productive and efficient, systematize and automate as much of it as possible!
That includes using:
- Electronic health records for accessing and updating patient information while reducing paperwork.
- Scheduling systems to automate booking appointments, reminders, and follow-ups.
- Standardized clinical protocols to make sure conditions and procedures are consistent.
- Automated billing and coding systems for claims and financial records.
- Patient portals so you can communicate quickly and easily.
8. Reduce time wasters
Do you ever reach the end of the day and wonder why you feel like you’ve done so much but accomplished so little?
It’s because you have too many time wasters.
The biggest time-wasting activities for physicians are administrative tasks like clinical and paper-based documentation.
And, believe it or not, having to wait for a computer to reboot! (Yes, really.)
So, identify and eliminate any activities that don’t contribute to your goals or patient care with a time audit.
I want you to track your time in 30-minute increments for two weeks.
By the end, you’ll have data that will help you figure out where your time is going and which tasks to eliminate so you can use your time more efficiently.
Hear more about why it works in this video:
9. Make time for yourself
With stress rates so high among doctors, it’s absolutely crucial that you make time for yourself.
There’s no right or wrong regarding self-care – what’s important is that you do it.
Remember how we talked about calendarizing your tasks earlier?
Don’t forget to set aside some personal time, too.
That includes:
- Taking short breaks, which improve concentration and focus
- Eating nourishing foods so your body has the energy it needs
- Resting, which enhances well-being and work performance
- Outsourcing what you can to ease your burden
But one of the most important parts of caring for yourself is creating a boundary between work and home.
Most physicians work as many as 20 extra hours to catch up on admin tasks each week.
Stop!
As often as possible, stop working at a specific time, spend a few minutes tying up loose ends, and then shut your office door and head home.
It’s what we call radical self-care – learn about it in this guide.
What’s next?
There you have it!
Nine foolproof methods of time management for physicians.
Now, these methods might take some time to implement.
But if you want to boost your productivity IMMEDIATELY, you should download our Winning the Week worksheet.
It’s an incredibly effective tool – and will help you reclaim your time and plan for even the most chaotic weeks in minutes.
And you can get it for free here:
Read more:
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