Time management is an essential skill in a variety of industries, most notably healthcare. Because healthcare is demanding and often requires employees to attend to tasks immediately, medical professionals need to manage their time wisely to ensure they provide the best quality of care for every patient and avoid costly mistakes.
Medical assistants understand the importance of time management, but for some, it may be difficult to accomplish. While managing time well won’t provide medical assistants with extra hours in the day, it will help them use the time they have more efficiently. Prism Career Institute offers a Medical Assistant Program to students in New Jersey and Philadelphia. Here, we offer tips to help medical assistants achieve better time management.
Set Goals to Follow
When seeking to increase your time management skills, a great place to start is setting actionable goals. When applied, this step can be beneficial not only in the workplace but in your daily life, as well.
Very often, the key to effective time management is organization. Goals help us stay organized and focused on the tasks ahead. Your goals can consist of major objectives for your career and minor tasks you must remember to do your job effectively. Regardless of the goal, put it down in writing and refer to it often to remain on track.
Cluster Similar Duties Together
Because the duties of a medical assistant involve a wide range of responsibilities, it is not uncommon for you to continuously run from one side of the facility to the other. As you make your rounds to these different departments, time can add up without you realizing it.
If possible, try to complete the tasks in proximity to each other in the same block of time. For example, if you need to go to the lab to collect a sample, make sure you save all collections or deliveries for the lab to make one trip. Of course, there may be emergencies where you need to make an extra stop but following this approach more consistently will allow you to use your time more efficiently and conserve your energy.
Set Realistic Deadlines
Setting deadlines is another step toward improving time management. Constantly feeling the pressure of deadlines can add to your stress, so you don’t need them for every task. However, they can be helpful for those responsibilities you seem prone to forgetting. They offer subtle yet motivating reminders and come with the sense of urgency we sometimes need to jog our memories.
Track Your Progress
Most people will admit they struggle to manage time wisely in some way or another. Because of this, it’s important to keep track of your progress after implementing a new time management strategy. Evaluating your progress will enable you to see what steps are helping and where improvement is needed. When tracking your progress, if you still feel you are not making the most of your time, it may be necessary to alter your current schedule and goals or create a new plan altogether.
Get in the Habit of Carrying a Notepad and Pen
As a medical assistant, you are often given vital information concerning patients and their conditions, sometimes off the cuff. Therefore, it may be wise to carry around a notepad and pen. This simple yet meaningful step allows you to jot down information so you don’t forget it. An iPad or other tablet device can serve the purpose, too.
Wear a Watch
You can’t improve your time management without being aware of the time. Wearing a watch will ensure you stay on track with your tasks and meet your deadlines. We advise wearing a waterproof watch, so you don’t need to take it off when washing your hands or administering some medication.
Time Management Explored at Prism Career Institute
At Prism Career Institute, we understand the importance of good time management in the ever-moving healthcare field. To help our students develop healthy habits and improve their time management skills, we have incorporated this competency into our medical assistant curriculum.
Offered at our Cherry Hill, NJ, and West Atlantic City, NJ, locations, as well as our Philadelphia, PA, campus, this program provides students with everything they need to successfully pursue a career as a medical assistant. For more information about our program and the other topics covered, please contact us today at Prism Career Institute.