Explore every episode of the podcast The Practice Rounds Podcast

(00:00:00) The envelope slides out and your energy sinks
(00:03:20) Where time blocking actually comes from
(00:05:58) Finding a block that actually works
(00:07:08) Telling your team so patients hear it first
(00:09:29) Using your schedule instead of reacting to it

You're wrapping up a visit, already halfway out, when you see it: a bag opening, an envelope sliding out. You know before the patient says a word. Your energy plummets. More insurance paperwork. Another third party form to add to an already never ending task list.

Then the mental math starts. Are you already behind? If you do this now, does the whole afternoon get further derailed? All while outwardly trying to keep your face neutral so the patient doesn't know your internal battle.

"It has to get done, but when is it going to get done?"

This interrupts your flow, causes you stress and takes more energy to figure out how the math will math.

You already know before they open their mouth

That moment repeats itself...a lot. The paperwork itself often doesn't take that long. But compound that by 3-5 patients with forms per clinic...and that's 15 more minutes. Because it doesn't have a fixed place to go, so it gets squeezed into clinic, or pushed to evenings, or weekends.

Time block your third party paperwork: this is where it gets done

The obvious block of time can look like tacking it at the end of the afternoon. But end of day time is never reliable. A late patient, a call to return, you're also just tired and the block gets bumped. And then you're right back to where you started.

Find a time that (reliably) works for you and for your life

What works is one consistent block of time, protected the same way you'd protect a procedure day. Once your team knows when it happens, they can tell a patient when their form comes back before you're ever asked. The clinic room envelope moment doesn't happen as often.

Giving the third party paperwork a home: less interruptions and stress for you. Your team doesn't feel bad when they ask you about it...again. Patients know what to expect.

Episode Takeaways

That third party paperwork doesn't have to interrupt your clinic or take up your evenings. It just needs a home somewhere in your week.

1. Pick a time block that consistently and reliably works for you and your life.
2. Tell your team: all paperwork will be done by X time (ex., end of day Thursday) so they can tell patients before you're ever asked.
3. Block more time than the paperwork usually needs. If a form takes 15-30 minutes, the extra 10-15 you don't use becomes time you can hand back to your team instead.

If You're Asking These Questions, This Is For You

• How do I stop dreading it when a patient hands me more insurance paperwork?
• What is time blocking and how do I actually use it in a busy specialist practice?
• How can my medical office assistant handle insurance forms without me chasing it every time?
• Why do I keep doing patient paperwork on my evenings and weekends?
• What's the best time of day to block off for third party medical forms?
• How do Canadian physicians manage fee-for-service insurance paperwork without falling behind?
• How do I get my clinic to stop piling up admin work?
• How do I tell patients when their forms will actually be done?

(00:00:00) The cost of getting interrupted mid note
(00:01:36) It's not just the question, it's the reserve it drains
(00:03:24) Writing the rule down and handing over the permission
(00:06:09) Changing the default from ask me to check first

What question do you answer every week... repeat?

You know the one. Mid note, mid patient, someone leans in with something you have already answered before. A patient showed up late, can she still be seen? Should this add on go here or there? What do we tell him about his work note? None of it is hard. It "only" takes a few seconds. All of it adds up.

Answer before the question gets asked

We know these questions are coming (because they always do). Which means we can answer them before they get asked by giving your team the answer and the permission to answer it without you. Write down the decision, the one already running in your head, and hand it over. Not a policy. A sentence.

The math on a few less interruptions

A few interruptions a day is 15 -20 less/week. Cut those down and the difference is not subtle. Less time explaining, less energy spent trying to control your face while internally containing frustration, more of your note finished before the next patient walks in.

You are giving them the permission to do this without you because this is how you want it done and it's written down.

Everybody wins when they know how you'd answer and they feel confident to make the call without involving youYour team does not want to interrupt you either. Give them the rule or guideline and their job gets easier, which means yours does too.

Episode Takeaways

What interrupts you 10 times/week doesn't have to stay that way. Give the answer to your team so they stop needing to ask you every time:

1. Write down the decision you already make automatically, the real rule running in your head, not a policy document. One sentence is usually enough.
2. Give permission for someone else to use it without checking with you first. That permission, not the information itself, is usually the missing piece.
3. The same questions won't disappear completely, and it doesn't need to. Going from 8 or 10 repetitive questions a week down to 1-2 is still real time and energy back.

If You're Asking These Questions, This Is For You

• Why do I keep getting asked the same question by my staff every day?
• How do I stop my team from interrupting me for decisions they could make without me?
• What should I do about my front desk asking me the same thing every clinic?
• How can I empower my clinic staff to make small decisions on their own?
• Why am I so drained by tiny interruptions during my clinic day as a specialist?
• How do I write a simple decision guide for common patient questions?
• What's the best way to give my staff permission to act without asking me first?
• How do I reduce daily interruptions in a fee-for-service Canadian practice without hiring more people?

(00:00:00) The question you answer without even thinking about it anymore
(00:02:03) Doing the actual math on what that question is costing you
(00:04:05) The healing question patients ask again and again after a procedure
(00:04:49) Answering before they ask, one line, one sheet at a time
(00:06:44) What changes for you, your team and your patients once you do this

You know the one. The question you answer so often you can guess it's coming before the patient finishes asking. It feels small. It is not free.

Why That Question Costs More Than a Few Minutes

It interrupts your flow, adds a task to your EMR list and usually means the patient carried worry before they even called. It adds up, three minutes here, a phone call there, the dread of opening the task list...again.

Answer before the question is asked.

On this episode of The Practice Rounds Podcast, Kate breaks down why answering the question more efficiently isn't going to fix the problem. Answering the question before the question gets asked is. A line added on to a post-procedure instruction sheet. An FAQ sheet given out when a new medication is started. Small, unglamorous infrastructure that saves you the call.

"Just because it's normal does not mean that it's free."

How to Get That Time Back

This week, notice the question you answer on repeat. Write down what you actually say. Then build the version patients get before they ask, so your admin fields fewer calls and you have a few less tasks and flow interruptions in your days. 

Episode Takeaways

1. Just because you get a question all the time doesn’t mean that needs to stay that way. Every repeat question is a little bit of your time, your energy and your flow, and yet another interruption..
2. The fix is answering before the question gets asked, a line on an instruction sheet, an FAQ sheet, something small that catches the question before it becomes a task.
3. This does not need to be an overhaul. One list of the questions you answer the most, sorted into a few categories, is enough to start giving time back to you, your admin and your patients.

If You're Asking These Questions, This Is For You

• Why do I keep getting the same patient question over and over?
• How do I stop patients from calling with the same concern every time?
• What is the best way to reduce phone calls from patients after a procedure?
• How can I create an FAQ sheet for my patients?
• Why does my admin get so many repeat phone calls?
• How do I explain normal post procedure symptoms so patients stop worrying and calling?
• What's a simple way to cut down on repetitive tasks in my practice without adding more work?

The 3am Rolodex

It’s 3am and your mental Rolodex of clinical and non-clinical tasks is running: if you know it, this episode is for you. On The Practice Rounds Podcast we talk about how in practice, the problems keeping you up at night, logging on to the EMR on weekends and being mentally absent at the dinner table isn’t the medicine. It’s everything else that goes into running a practice.

Why the Usual Advice Doesn't Work

Yoga, mindfulness, boundary-setting: real tools but they solve different problems. None of them touch a schedule that's already an hour behind before your first patient sits down. Efficiency doesn't save you either. Being able to do everything just means you're the one doing everything, in less and less time.

"They don't change how our days run. They don't change that at the end of the day we have a mountain of work that we need to do and only so many hours in the day."

How to get time back so you can show up as the person and the doctor you want to be

The fix isn't another wellness habit. It's how you manage your practice. Small changes that compound into hours of your time back. Fewer evenings on the EMR, engaged at home, starting to live the “better” you imagined in residency. And doing it while still practicing medicine the way you want to.

Where to Start

Name the one task eating the most of your time, and get specific. That answer is the first target to start getting your time back.

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Episode Takeaways

1. Efficiency is no longer the answer, because it just means you're the person doing everything in less and less time.
2. The tools we talk about most, yoga, mindfulness, boundary setting, are important and have their place. None of them change how your day at work actually goes. None of them help you get your work done at work.
3. Small changes ripple into big differences. 5 minutes saved a day becomes 15. Fifteen becomes an hour. It doesn't require a whole overhaul of your practice to start getting time back.

Timestamps

00:00 — The 3am Rolodex and the realization the medicine wasn't the problem

02:05 — The hallway conversation every female physician has had, never feeling like it's enough

04:36 — The efficiency trap, and why being more efficient was never going to fix it

08:01 — The real tool: how you manage your practice, and what changes when it runs better

10:19 — Small changes, not an overhaul, and how five minutes becomes an hour

If You're Asking These Questions, This Is For You

• Why do I feel like I'm never doing enough as a doctor?
• How do Canadian female physicians get their time back without cutting back on patients?
• Why does running my practice feel harder than residency ever did?
• What is the real reason I'm still doing charts on a Sunday night?
• Is there a way for a fee-for-service physician to see more patients and work fewer hours?
• Why doesn't yoga or work-life balance fix how exhausted I feel at the end of clinic?
• What's the difference between being efficient and having real time back as a doctor?

0:00 Welcome to The Practice Rounds Podcast.
0:10 What the Practice Rounds Podcast is