Compound Effect

There's a saying: If you're not changing it you're choosing it. 

Trust me, there are still many things I would love to change, but that takes effort and discomfort. It's easier to do familiar, even if familiar is also uncomfortable.

Think about charting after hours. Not something that you would choose, but it keeps happening. Why?

Because every day you make small, familiar allowances that result in you having homework.

"Doc, can you also do this one tiny thing for me? (Drops thick form on the examination couch)" ….. what you choose to do next determines whether you have homework left over after this patient encounter.

You are running 20 minutes behind ….. what you choose to do about the incomplete documentation from the last encounter determines whether you get homework tonight.

Then there are the small compounding minutes of your day

💥 I wonder if there's fresh coffee in the tea room

💥 Where's the cryotherapy canister

💥 Oh, the printer needs more paper

💥 What's the billing code for injection

You are 25 minutes behind and blaming yourself and your perceived inefficiency …. But the first patient wasn't roomed until 10 minutes after their appointment time, and you squeezed in a UTI.

Start noticing your clinical day. The minutes and the seconds.

What are you choosing? What is compounding?  What are the results that you desire to change?

Then, once you have the answers to these questions it is time to get help!  Do you own the planning and optimizing of your clinical day?

Chat with colleagues and peers. Bring your questions to the coaching calls inside the Charting Champions Program or the Smarter Charting Program.

Start choosing the results you actually want 😊🎉🎉