Mastering the medical mindshift: Being busy has nothing to do with efficiency and productivity

Data, facts and instruments on the German health system

What it’s all about

Work pressure, stress and demotivation: in many GP and specialist practices, these sensations are daily routine. But this does not have to be the case.

Busy, but not productive

If medical assistants and practice owners document their work over a longer period of time according to their activities,

the average observation shows that one third of the work – the „dark third“ – is completely unnecessary and does not benefit the actual fulfilment of the task.

During these times, doctors and staff are busy, but not productive. One example is the frequently documented „errands“ of doctors to hand over or pick up documents. This alone wastes an average of more than one hour of working time per day. Other examples are the avoidable search for documents or files, but also wrong questions („When would you like to come?“), which let the valuable commodity „time“ slip between the hands.

Negative results of occupations

Such a waste of time leads to the fact that

pending tasks cannot be given the full attention and care they deserve and
other, equally necessary activities have to be postponed.

This leads to the negative emotions mentioned, such as stress, work pressure and demotivation, since the feeling of never really being able to finish is omnipresent.

Balance is what counts

Practical work fulfils its goals when it is productive and efficient. The point is not to fill the available time as completely as possible with many meaningful activities, but to use it consciously. This means eliminating unnecessary „time killers“ in order to achieve a balance between work power and work demands that allows the necessary tasks to be completed comfortably while maintaining personal well-being.

The simple solution

The quickest and easiest way to eliminate time-wasters and inefficient or unproductive routines is to conduct a Practice Management Comparison©. It identifies – without the need for an on-site consultant – the „dark third“ mentioned at the beginning.