It's About Time

One of our doctors' pet peeves is talkative patients. She likes people and gets along with them well, but small talk is not her forte. During one of our weekly meetings, she made a frustrated comment about how she felt some patients really slowed things down by not being direct. It got me to thinking about time management.

Of course, she was just venting, and there is no appreciable way to measure the delay caused by chatty patients. Also, even she realizes that friendly, open communication is vital to proper medical treatment. Still, there were other elements to consider regarding office efficiency. As usual, I made a list:

1. Study work processes - Have each staff member review their work habits to see if there is any redundancy and overlap. This will give them a greater sense of job ownership, and make them feel less threatened by the idea that they might be wasting time. Make sure to include the physicians and nursing staff as well. Perhaps there is a more streamlined way to get patients in and out of examing rooms? Have a friendly, catered lunch meeting where everyone can feel free to brainstorm.


2. Be specific and focused - Train your staff to answer phone inquiries as quickly as possible. If they need to call someone back, have them offer a specific time as a deadline so that the patient doesn't call again during the interim. Make sure the staff only uses their breaktime and lunches to do things like checking email or making personal calls.


3. Schedule according to strengths - Some folks are morning people and some need a few hours and a couple of cups of coffee to hit their stride. When possible, have the early birds open and the nightowls close.


4. Take it easy - Once you've made the push for greater efficiency, received staff input, and implemented everything, take a deep breath. There are limits to how efficient a group of people working together are going to be, and there is also the natural pace of your practice to consider. You don't want your patients to feel rushed and you can't fear the bottom line--volume is only part of the profit margin equation.

I recently had a staff member secretly tell me that he was grateful for one of our streamlining ideas. He said he had been covering for another employee and didn't want to make waves by complaining. When the other employee volunteered the change in our meeting, he said he nearly fainted. The ways in which people fail to communicate never ceases to amaze me.

As always, I'm very curious about tips you might have to use time more efficiently. Any tricks of the trade you'd care to share?