Managing Time

1. 13 Managing Time

2. Learning Outcomes • Identify time wasters. • Identify goals. • Set priorities. • Group activities and minimize routine work. • Manage personal organization and self-discipline. • Minimize time wasters.

3. Time Management • No one manages time, but we can determine how we use time

4. Organizational Factors • Job enlargement • Organizational structure that can affect time demands • Flatter organizational structure • Positions combined, with managers having more staff to supervise

5. Time Wasters • Staff interruptions • Meetings without a clear purpose • Goals, objectives, and priorities that are not measurable • Plans without time parameters

6. Time Wasters • Disorganized files or papers • Time logs, not analyzed • Tasks/activities that can be delegated • Waiting for others • Inability to say no

7. Time Logs • Examine your planner or appointment book to determine how you spend your time • Determine time wasters and activities that can be delegated to others or eliminated

8. Goals • Goals provide a guide, a time frame, and a way to measure accomplishments

9. Goal Categories • Department or unit • Interpersonal • Professional • Financial • Social

10. Goal Categories • Vacation and travel • Physical • Lifestyle • Community • Spiritual

11. Managing Goals • Identify objectives to be achieved • Describe specific activities necessary to achieve these objectives • Estimate time required for each activity • Determine planned activities for concurrent action versus sequential • Identify activities that can be delegated

12. Prioritizing – Urgent and Important • A patient’s condition becomes life threatening and you have other patients who need your care • How do you handle the situation?

13. Prioritizing – Important but Not Urgent • You are the clinical preceptor for a nurse resident who needs to debrief about how he communicated with the case manager about a patient’s discharge plans • How do you handle the situation?

14. Prioritizing – Urgent but Not Important • Today is the deadline to submit a quality assurance report about decubitus ulcers; the study results demonstrate that staff practice is consistent with standards and the decubitus ulcer rate is decreasing • How do you handle the situation?

15. Minimize Routine Work • Group similar items within the divisions of the work shift • Group routine tasks during the least productive time • Use transition or waiting time productively • Implement the daily plan and follow up

16. Self-Discipline • Work from clearly defined priorities based on measurable, achievable objectives • Establish realistic commitments to manage time effectively

17. Self-Discipline • Explain to your superior how being overloaded will have consequences on your assignments • Communicate your own needs to others

18. Interruptions • Each time you are stopped in the middle of one activity to give attention to something else, you are wasting valuable time • How can you approach interruptions to save time?

19. Interruption Log • List interruptions that occur • Describe how the interruption affects your work • Analyze interruptions to determine patterns • Calculate how much time is wasted

20. Paperwork • Plan and schedule times for paperwork • Sort paperwork for effective processing • Send every communication online • Analyze paperwork frequently • Do not be a paper shuffler; handle paper once

21. Other Interruptions • Phone calls, text messages • Set a specific time for them • E-mail • Check only at specific times

22. Other Interruptions • Drop-in visitors • Control frequency and duration • Meetings • Schedule only as necessary, have an agenda, and set time limit