Career and Life Planning Guidebook for Medical Residents

Physician Wellness R E A D : Tick-Tock: The Ins and Outs of Time Management Timemanagement. Those two littlewords are either a source of comfort or great anxiety formost people. For those who excel at multi-tasking, it’s a beacon of light. For those who struggle with balancing a very full plate, it strikes fear in their hearts. As we are all individual in our upbringing, background, and personalities, there is no “one way” for physicians to manage their time. There are, however, a few easy-to-use tools to increase your efficiency and decrease your anxiety when trying to balance your time sheet. Like most physicians, you can likely triage like a boss. Mildly abnormal TSH? That can wait till tomorrow to address. Critically high potassium? Need to address that right now. Your next patient is having active chest pain with EKG changes? They just got your undivided attention. Physicians excel at being able to make snap decisions in life or death situations. Ask us to decide how to order returning phone calls, write letters of reference for students, run to the grocery store, and dedicate part of your day for “me-time” is overwhelming. My first suggestion: shift your thinking. Apply the same strategy you use (likely successfully) clinically to your everyday life by using the Eisenhower Matrix: As we are all individual in our upbringing, background, and personalities, there is no "one way" for physicians to manage their time. 53 WWW.PHYSICIANCAREERPLANNING.COM