excellent advice! The message is: change or stop moaning! I have been trying
to persuade my senior partner to control her work load for 5 years now but she
feels unable to do so -not one of nature's assertives. Eventually I
diplomatically told her that if she was not prepared to change her working
then I and the staff did not want to hear anymore about stressed-out, TATT etc
from her. Worked wonders- she still hasn't changed one bit but surprisingly
looks fresh, smiles and alert much more. Is this 'self-cognitive therapy' or
has she a new lover?? Thoughts please.
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From: [log in to unmask] on behalf of Beaumaris Health Center
Sent: 10 March 1998 19:00
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Workload
At 08:20 10/03/98 +0000, Katie wrote:
>Yesterday I had 73 patient contacts - comprising 2 full surgeries,
>6 housecalls, telephone calls, "popping into the treatment room to see
>extras for the nurse", etc. I worked solidly from 8.15 until 8pm, then
>spent 2 hours checking last weeks blood test results etc. I have not
>yet found time to do the 18 referrals engendered by yesterdays patients.
>
>
>Oh, well, time to leave for work; mustn't forget to take the children to
>school... where are they? and put the cat out? oh, return the video, put
>the washing in, feed the fish, get the supper in the slow cooker, mop up
>the spilt milk... crying? me? over spilt milk?
>
Where do you find the time to read GP UK?
Some of this sounds like me 10 years ago ... you need some control over
your workload before burnout hits, and so you see the kids sometimes.
There ARE solutions -
Reduce the hours ( job share/part time/full time but less sessions )
Delegate some of the "woman doctor" stuff to the practice nurse - smears
contraception HRT. Delegate other stuff too, BPs, asthma etc. Increase
nursing hours if needed. If nurses get overloaded, think of delegating to
other staff ( we have a phlebotomist, who we are now training to do other
tasks eg ECG taking. )
Become known as the doctor who DOESN'T hand out sleeping pills, antibiotics,
sick notes etc.
Say NO sometimes - hard, but it works.
See "extras" only if they really are emergencies - or save time by advising
the nurse over the phone!
Do less blood tests!
Not all work is patient generated, much is doctor generated, how many of
your consultations are return appointments? Phone before all home visits,
review by phone rather than revisiting some of the housebound.
Some of this involves partnership policy, may be hard to change, but worth
finding time to discuss if every one is working equally hard, and more so if
you're doing more than your share of the work!
Took me too long to learn much of the above ... but now I have time to read
GP UK - and much more :)
Gwen
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