In medicine, there are two rival impulses at play when it comes to patient care. The first is to be efficient – that is to get them seen, treated and sent home as quickly as possible. The second is to spend adequate time with the patient, understanding their medical history and their life’s traumas so that in your rush to get them treated you do not inadvertently overlook something that will, in fact, make them worse. However, these two impulses show that efficiency in medicine is a tricky business; here are some reliable tips to make efficient decisions without putting anyone at risk.
Standard Practice
Having an absolute standard when it comes to best-practice may make the job ever so slightly more monotonous, but it’ll also streamline every single interaction you have, whether that be with nurses, with administrative staff, or with the patient herself. It means that everyone is familiar with their role and that no time will be wasted looking for missing data sheets or having the patient repeat the same information to two or three nurses. Establish such a standard as soon as possible to save headaches.
Utilize Digital Assistance
The digital world has come with a raft of benefits for society as a whole, and plenty of them are also helpful in the medical profession. Look, for instance, at the huge online repository of diseases and illnesses that can now be browsed from any personal computer, not to mention the doctor’s forums and web pages detailing the more unusual cases that come about in the profession. Perhaps one of the smartest ways to be more efficient is by using the tools available on www.datamatrixmedical.com – tools which will help outsource plenty of the legwork you have to do to data specialists and tried and tested algorithms.
Be Wise
An abstract piece of advice but one with very practical and physical means, being wise to the intricacies of your job is about talking with other people in the profession, keeping your mind sharp by reading books and papers, and attending conferences, seminars and workshops – especially those in areas in which you're not all that confident. Being proactive in this way will help you build strong relationships with older, experienced doctors while increasing your own knowledge and confidence so that you're never dithering, worried and confused, over a diagnosis again.
Priorities are Everything
Finally, the biggest piece of advice you're likely to hear in the profession is the need to have a robust set of priorities when working as a doctor or nurse. You should know what patients you can spend less time with in order to help others; which files to spend more time looking over; and which medicines to spend longer researching and administering. If you're in the profession, you will almost certainly be operating in this way anyway – redistributing your time amongst the patients most in need. Honing this ability will make you an incredibly able medical professional.
Efficiency in medicine shouldn't be at the expense of attention to the patient; above are some ways to foster efficiency without putting anyone at risk.
