Have you ever found yourself running late? It happens to all of us. The other day at work, I saw a patient with chest pain and it took me half an hour to arrange hospital admission. Sometimes, we need to spend extra time to manage patient with complex needs. This may well delay the rest of the clinic. We might not control what comes through the door but we can control our productivity. If you want to do more with less, this article is for you. By the end of this article, you will learn three productivity tips to gain more time and more energy.
Productivity Tip #1 Adjust your cursor speed
This is easy to implement. Most of us have our computer mouse cursor speed set at a default speed. Chances are the default setting is slowing your navigation process to move the cursor from one side to the other. You can increase the speed of your mouse cursor to a faster setting for better performance. This simple adjustment will save you time and energy each time you use your mouse. Go to mouse settings and increase the pointer speed.
Productivity Tip #2 Learn to type faster
A significant chunk of our time goes in documenting consultation in the patient’s record. This is typically performed by typing on a computer keyboard. Imagine how efficient you would be if you could type faster and with fewer errors. The speed at which a person types can be improved with training. A few hours of practice can increase a person’s speed from 30 to 70 Words per minute. A free resource you can use to type faster with more accuracy is Keybr. Typing accurately reduces the use of time and energy in correcting typing errors.
Productivity Tip #3 Learn to speed read
Increase your reading speed without losing comprehension. We often read endless discharge letters, patients’ records, reports of investigations and so on everyday. It is time consuming to read so many texts. Imagine the benefits of reading faster. Like typing, reading is a skill you can learn to be faster. The first technique is to highlight the line you read to guide your eyes. You could also use your finger to guide your gaze. The second technique is to limit your eye movements to the center of the text. We typically read by scanning our gaze left, center and right. By limiting the range of eye movement and focusing on the center, we can train our peripheral vision to read text at borders without having to scan from margin to margin. You therefore reduce the saccadic eye movements and process information faster.
Building and embedding good habits are key components to be consistently productive. These 3 productivity tips will enable you to do more with less only if you apply them. By combining all three practical tips, you can make significant gain in productivity and be better equipped next time your clinic runs late.
