Helpful Ideas

Time Management Tips

Ringing phones, looming deadlines, and piles of charts and bills are part and parcel of modern pharmacy practice, and I often hear fellow pharmacists complain of overwhelming workloads, overstuffed schedules, and overall stress. Just about everyone, even the most seasoned veteran pharmacist, can benefit from a review of some basic principles of effective time management and a redoubled commitment to enhanced discipline.

First Steps

The first step toward improved time management is a comprehensive task review to identify exactly what you need to accomplish, and when. Many people have a general idea of what they'd like to achieve but never take the time to analyze the steps that need to be taken to complete the tasks at hand; others have settled into comfortable routines without taking the time to periodically review and reorganize. If it's been awhile since you reviewed your duties and priorities, make time to do so. Simply analyzing your work and setting broad goals can, in itself, boost your efficiency.

Next, make a list of all the tasks you perform and how often they need to be done. This doesn't have to be done all in one sitting; taking notes as you work and compiling the list over a period of a few weeks will help ensure that your list is comprehensive. Another approach is to keep a diary of tasks performed and associated time values. Just as some dieters keep diaries to monitor and limit their food intake, you can use a diary to put your schedule on a diet and monitor progress toward your goals.

Now you're ready to categorize tasks according to priority and urgency (this morning, today, this month, this year). This is the time to identify and weed out tasks that are no longer necessary or can be delegated to a technician, clerk, or junior pharmacist.

Time-Management Tools

Planning grids are one of the best tools for organizing your workload and making sure routine tasks are performed, and performed on time.

I use a 12-month planning grid to monitor completion of my various responsibilities as a member of my facility's P&T committee. Similar grids that break down the overall workload into weekly or monthly increments can help target specific problem areas and fine-tune workload scheduling.

Depending on the nature of your work, you may want to employ other time-saving tools and mnemonic devices: preformatted data entry forms, spreadsheet software, self-addressed e-mail messages, an alarm clock or watch to remind you of a meeting or deadline, for example.

Keep in mind, however, that even the best tools can become time drains if not used correctly. For example, making a list and maintaining it daily can be helpful, but those who compile several lists each day may soon find their lists, and their efforts, scattered. A better approach is to keep one perpetual list and make daily adjustments. Index cards and e-mail are excellent tools for maintaining a perpetual list.

Cultivating Good Work Habits

Once you've set goals, priorities, and a plan for achieving tasks, it's important to take a critical look at how you perform those tasks. Ask a coworker to observe your work habits for one week and provide some constructive feedback; you might be surprised at what you learn.

Without steps to cultivate and maintain good work habits, your time-management efforts will be defeated. The following tips can help you stay on track:

• Conquer the clutter. Schedule 10 to 15 minutes each week to clear your work area of junk mail, old papers, and other accumulated clutter. Change habits that lead to messes. Keep cleaning supplies handy so you can take advantage of the odd free moment to police your work space.
• Defuse distractions. Little distractions can add up to a major drain on productivity. If you're spending too much time on the phone, keep an egg timer at your desk and hold calls to a reasonable limit. Learn how to terminate calls politely. If co-workers often drop in to chat, close your door. If you're constantly walking around obstacles, consider a change of floor plan. Take steps to reduce distracting noise.
• Know thyself. Rivers can't be forced to flow uphill; nor should you try to work against your inner nature. Schedule the toughest work for your circadian period of peak productivity. Minimize the impact of suboptimal climate control with a fan or small heater. Perhaps better or different lighting would boost your efficiency.
• Eliminate redundancy. Analyze every process you use to determine if any steps can be eliminated. Common problems include multiple signatures for approval, extra steps designed to circumvent systems or correct problems that could be addressed more directly, and generating multiple copies that are no longer required.
• Group and separate. tedious or redundant tasks can be grouped for increased efficiency: file all at once, bill all at once, order all at once. Large, multifaceted tasks, on the other hand, may be best tackled in small pieces. For example, sort that large stack of paperwork on Monday, process some on Tuesday, some on Wednesday, and so forth until it's done. Using this approach, even the most daunting tasks become manageable.
• Share the burden. As any quilter knows, many hands make light work, especially when tackling tedious or large tasks. Performance of dreaded chores like the annual inventory can take on a party atmosphere when many are involved and frequent breaks are scheduled.
• Seize the moment. We all have a tendency to put off minor, less important tasks, and we also spend significant chunks of time holding on the phone or waiting in line. Can you see an opportunity here? Make a list of tasks that take five, 10, or 20 minutes, and keep the materials you need to do these tasks handy. That way, when you're put on hold or stuck in line, you can pull out that small job and finish it up.
• Emulate others. Don't try to reinvent the wheel. If someone else always seems to be ahead of the game, watch and learn. If someone else has a speedier way of doing something, copy it. If you're having trouble getting specific jobs done, ask others how they organize and execute the task; perhaps you've overlooked some short cuts.
• Make work fun. Introducing a bit of fun into your work will make the day easier for you and your customers. Challenge yourself to process one hundred pieces of paper every day for five days. Have a friendly contest with a co-worker to see who can process the most billing statements in an hour with no mistakes. If possible, flip your morning and afternoon schedules for a change of pace.

By incorporating these simple time management strategies into your work day, you'll be more efficient, more organized-and much less likely to let tasks build up to a crisis level or slip through the cracks.

Jeamette Wick, RPh, MBA
Chief Pharmacist
District of Columbia Commission on Mental Health Services