An excerpt from the new ebook: The Medical Office Manager's Guide to Time Management
Key tips, best practices, insights—we've shared a number of ways to better manage your medical practice. But if you're looking for guidance in getting better at time management, all in one place, you'll want to download the latest ebook on The Medical Office Manager's Guide to Time Management. Not only does this guide provide you with educational and informative gems, it also shares how to help put all of this great knowledge into practice.
Below is a great excerpt from the ebook on everyday situations in the medical practice where time management skills are critical to possess. Left to their own devices, these situations can easily become unwieldy if there's not a good process in place.
Managing Time Off
Take a close look at your practice’s existing policies regarding time off for employees. In some cases, if you’re part of a larger hospital network this may not be something over which you have much control. However, if you’re part of a smaller practice you might consider some ways in which you can adjust policies to be more effective from both an employee and an office efficiency perspective.
Some key examples of policies and procedures you enact could include:
- Establishing a paid time off (PTO) bank that allots a certain number of paid vacation days to employees. Experts state that this is advantageous because it allows staff members to take time off as they need and also helps them to do so in a private way.
- Instituting time tracking tools and software. This ensures that no one is doing any guesswork regarding attendance and allows you to effectively monitor employee working hours.
- Having a plan in place for when an employee needs to take an unexpectedly long amount of time off. Sometimes life happens and someone needs to be away from work for an extended period of time. Thinking ahead and planning for this will ensure that your medical office is not unexpectedly short-staffed.
Balancing Workloads
According to medical office management experts, workload balance is an important element when it comes to maintaining staff morale and ensuring that your practice’s workload is equitably distributed. The first step in achieving this balance is to conduct a thorough assessment of the current workload’s state. Experts point to several key methods of assessing workload:
- Measure patient wait times as they move through different clinic areas during a visit.
- Monitor overtime.
- Review and analyze bottlenecks in patient wait times.
- Consistently review daily reports and the times at which they are submitted.
Such assessments will allow you to effectively alter current workloads to promote a healthier balance among staff members.
Learn More Ways to Manage Employee Time
Get insights on managing your own, your staff's, and your provider's time, along with examples of how to apply time management in your practice. Download your free ebook now.
