Dentists are burdened consistently with time management. Besides performing their dentist duties, they also need to handle the business operating side. They need to master executive task management or how to schedule productive clinical time.
Dentists find it hard to manage time because they can hardly stay committed to administrative activities. All day they handle things like cranky patients, crying kids, lengthy working hours, etc. They are always pushing hard via multitasking but cannot handle every workload and at the end of the day they go home and only think about going to sleep. The clock keeps on ticking but fortunately, they can efficiently handle their time and working hours.
Read Dominic Thorncroft Blog, it will help to handle working hours efficiently and –
- Increase productivity
- Decrease stress
- Give patients better care
- Avoid potential burnout
- Enhance well-being and job satisfaction
- Promote career sustainability
- Enjoy life after the working hours are officially completed
Good time management skill is important for every dentist, which is not highlighted in their educational curricula. Here are some great tips that will relieve the time management tension.
Contents
Prioritize
You have a lengthy to-do list and are not able to determine where to start. It is sensible to prioritize the tasks into four categories.
- Urgent & essential
- Urgent but not essential
- Not urgent but essential
- Not urgent & not essential
This grid system will help to handle the daily tasks. Follow them in order and you are all set!
Apply the Pareto 80/20 Efficiency Rule Principle
According to the Pareto code – for a majority of things you encounter in life 80% of the productivity is due to 20% effort. You can apply this technique in –
- Work tasks – It means out of 10 tasks concentrate on the 2 most urgent and essential ones. Never feel remorseful in spending 80% time doing the 2 tasks. They will eventually result in 80% of productivity. You can do the leftover 8 tasks within 20% of the time.
- Hobbies – Every doctor requires a hobby to stay productive at work. According to the Pareto code things that look difficult are easy to learn. It means putting 20% of effort towards playing 80% of music on the piano.
Read Also: How Therapeutic Massage Can Improve the Quality of Your Life
Apply Parkinson’s Law
According to Parkinson’s Law, ‘Works inflates to fill the time allotted to it.’ For example, if you get 2 months to complete the assignment, you will possibly postpone. Ultimately, you will finish the assignment but work all night before the deadline. It means when you have a deadline looming, you can do plenty of work overnight. You will try to set deadlines, even if your work schedule is tight. It will enhance your productivity and keep the patient’s satisfied.
Invest in a Planning System
In this world of technology, you can choose a planning system. It includes a weekly or daily calendar, where you can record daily tasks. You can choose a portable planning system and develop a habit to keep it updated, adding tasks as needed, and noting the completed ones.
Employ Technologies
Use software technology solutions for time management and work more efficiently. An electronic health record simplifies tedious tasks, cuts paperwork, and stores patients’ crucial information with ease.
Be realistic about workload and agree to handle new patients, if there is time, but if you are tired learn to say NO to your colleagues politely.
