Belief Before Workflow

Another day with a full schedule. You finish seeing your last patient, and you can finally work on the many charts you did not finish earlier in the day. You are exhausted. You want to go home. And there they are – the unfinished charts.

Does this sound familiar? That was me. I could sense my brain shutting down slowly. I did not want to look at another chart. I did not want to think more about patients. I wanted to go home. My conscience stopped me. There I was. In the office, alone, struggling to keep my brain cells awake and alert. There were nights I could not finish all my notes, which meant that some of my weekends were spent charting.

I do not think anyone enjoys having outstanding charts. Some physician clients I coached started with many unfinished charts from weeks ago. How is it possible to reset, such that you can start off every week with zero charts left behind?

Who do you have to be to finish your patient charts on time?

You can be the physician who is efficient and finishes the patient charts the same day. Imagine yourself being that person. At the end of the day, when you go home, there is no burden of charting at night or on the weekends. You get to spend time doing what you enjoy doing. You get more fulfilling clinical experience because you are not dreading to have many extra after hours of work. You get to fully engage with patients. You get to focus on being a doctor and not a charting machine. If this seems too good to be true, it is because you are not there yet, and it is okay. Spend some time every day to imagine this. You are the physician who finishes your work on time (and not going home with more work to do). The more you think this way, the more you believe you will become that person.

Belief is a powerful tool. When you believe there is hope you can change something, it will happen, even when it does not happen the exact way you imagined. When you believe that it is possible to cut down on your after-hours charting time, you will make it happen somehow. Many of us are anxious to jump to the “how”. It is great to be eager to take action, but without believing that you can achieve the desired results, it is difficult to get to your goal. If you do not have a strong belief that you will succeed, subconsciously, you will not be doing your best to achieve your best.

When you have a strong belief that you will achieve your goal, you will be determined to do things to make it happen. This is different for every physician. Some may need to focus on better workflow, some may be to minimize distractions, maximize delegation, better focus, and elevate the technical skills in the electronic health record you are using. Some may realize that it is best to ask for help. Whatever it is, you are set to try different things to get those unfinished charts done.

There is the situation – unfinished charts. You want to finish those charts and reset your work life such that you will no longer have outstanding charts. Be the person you need to be to do the things you need to do to achieve the goal you want to achieve. Practice the belief that you can achieve it, even though it may seem far-fetched at this time. Believe before figuring out the method to tackle it. When you fully believe you can finish the charts on time, try different ways. Experiment. It will be something different from what you are doing, because what you are doing now is not getting the results you want. Do not hesitate to ask for help. Ask someone who has been there and done that. This will save you a lot of time than trying to figure it out on your own. You can finish the patient charts with more efficiency. It is possible to reclaim your nights and weekends.