To manage time well, it is important to be organized. Time management and organizational skills are two of the most important skill sets a health care professional can possess. Without theses skills, health care professionals can seem overwhelmed, sloppy and uncaring. Patients may also tend to doubt the knowledge base and medical skills of these individuals.
Being On Time for Appointments
In this fast-paced world, everyone is pressed for time. Timeliness is an asset and patients respect physicians, dentists, nurses and other health are professionals who make timeliness a priority. Waiting an hour or more after the set appointment time to be seen by a health care professional is not only annoying, but stressful.
All too often, patients put off necessary health care visits because they know it can take several hours for their 15-minute appointment to actually transpire. On the other hand, patients do appreciate their health care professionals who spend quality time explaining and answering their questions.
Providing Quality Patient Care
Health care professionals who can organize and manage their time well, will bring to their practice an amazing ability to provide quality care for their patients. To do this they have to first be organized, and second mindful of time and how much time it should take to accomplish a task.
Prioritizing and Re-Prioritizing in Patient Care
In addition to organizational skills, the health care professional needs to be able to prioritize. For instance, in a crisis, the most critical patient gets seen first. In everyday routine care, there may not be a crisis to deal with, but even the most mundane tasks must be prioritized. As the day or situation progresses, re-prioritizing may be necessary to keep things moving in a orderly and timely fashion. Understanding how to do this is another essential skill health care professionals must learn.
Flexibility is yet another skill, or perhaps even characteristic, that is important for health care professionals to possess. Expecting the unexpected and being able to flex with the need is a must more times than most nurses, doctors and other health care professionals would care to think about, but it’s a reality in the day to day life for these professionals.
No two days are ever exactly alike, and there is no way to predict how a day will turn out. This makes health care an exciting profession, but it also adds to the intensity and stress levels. The individual who is disorganized and has no concept of how to manage time, will quickly become overwhelmed and extremely stressed. This can greatly affect their ability to provide accurate as well as quality care.
Learn Time Management
Anyone considering a career in health care should take an honest look at their organizational and time management skills. Those who need additional help in these areas can find it through mentors as well as through time management courses. In addition, there are many helpful products on the market such as applications for devices such as smart phones and hand held computers.
Kathy Quan - Kathy Quan RN BSN has been a home health/hospice nurse for over 30 years. She has authored five books and writes for several online ...
