How To Go Home On Time For Physicians – Perfectionism and Efficiency

Most physicians, including myself, grew up striving for not just excellence, but perfection. While it is good to take things seriously and to do them well, are you sacrificing time for perfection? Are you taking perfection to the level that you are anxious to make mistakes?

Perfection is when you get a 100% on a test, a perfect score on a flawless gymnastics routine or a piano recital. While striving for perfection keeps your standards high, it is important to see what perfectionism is costing you. Are you only accepting what is considered to be 100% and nothing else?

In clinical medicine, a big part of patient care is documentation, or charting. Are you bringing perfectionism to work, such that you are going home way past your expected hours of a work day? A perfectionist who is anxious about making mistakes will check and double check their work, to see if there are any mistakes. This means that a patient chart may take longer to complete, to account for the proof reading, the constant looking out for mistakes. The anxiety of making a mistake builds up. You make it mean that you are not allowed to make a mistake but you did. The fear of imperfection is then linked to the fear of being seen as imperfect. There is a less likelihood of trying something new because you do not want to risk making a mistake. This leads to slower or even no progress.

If this is you – that perfectionism is slowing you down, preventing you from leaving work on time – there are some things I would recommend.

The first thing is to recognize that you have the tendency for perfectionism. Do not beat yourself up about it. It is good to aim high, but sometimes, the sacrifice is your time, your excessive effort and your emotional toll.

Be clear on why you are doing what you are doing. Why are you writing patient charts? Besides the “because I have to” answer, patient charts are used to help us understand more in depth about a patient. Patient documentation is essential. It is also a means to communicate with other clinicians about the patient. In other words, the note can be considered “perfect” if that goal is achieved. The note does not have to be 100% grammatically correct. It does not have to be in complete sentences. It just has to be organized, easy to read and comprehend. It needs to show your observation, assessment and plan. Speaking from my own experience, yes, I do appreciate a patient note that has no typo or grammatical mistakes, but the most important thing is the diagnosis and management plan. Be clear on why you are writing patient charts.

Is perfectionism costing you time, time you could be doing something else? If you would rather spend all day perfecting and manufacturing the most perfect looking charts, then this article is not for you. I believe that most of you prefer not to be a documentation machine and focus on direct patient care and the in-person interaction. Be confident that you are capable to taking great care of patients even though you do not consider your charting as perfect. Charting is good enough when others read it, they know what you are thinking and what to do about that patient. It is okay to accept some flaws. It is important to realize what flaws are skippable. Accept you being you. Realize what your priorities are. The goal is to take great care of patients, be efficient in charting, and leave work in a timely manner.

Practice charting at the good enough standard and see what happens. Compare the time it takes you to write a note on average with perfectionism to that with good enough in mind.

Be kind to yourself. As long as you are doing your best, achieving the basic goal with charting, embrace the imperfection, put more emphasis in patient care and efficiency – that is good enough. Imperfection does not mean you are charting in a haphazard way. There is always room to try new things. When you are not anxious about making mistakes or having the fear of failure, you are more willing to try something new or do something a different way. This is also an opportunity for progress that you did not think could happen without trying.