Practice tip of the week: Five ways physicians can minimize interruptions

With all the useful information available on Physicians Practice, it is easy to become overwhelmed.

With this in mind, the tip of the week is a chance to reflect on some of the wisdom found all across the site. In a June 2021 story on five ways physicians can minimize interruptions, Jeff Davidson, writes the following:

“ 1). Monitor, but do not respond - By monitoring the calls and text messages that come in, but not responding to them, they are able to turn back quickly to their work and make good progress

2). Increase your message monitoring interval - If you monitor your messages every five minutes to 10 minutes, increase the interval to 15 or 20. In the grand scope of things, that’s not a big deal in terms of staying informed, while at the same time it affords you the ability to stay focused and accomplish great things. In time, increase the interval to 25 minutes to 30 minutes.

3). Decide in advance which messages merit quick response - After hours when you’re attending a play, a movie, a dinner, or are at some other place where you do not need to be disturbed and, indeed, would disturb others if you were to check your cell phone, take it out of the equation. Don’t bring it with you.”

Check out the article for the rest of the tips. Be sure to come back next week for another Tip of the Week!