5 Things I Quickly Implemented For My PEACE When I Walked into the Office and Saw My Crazy Schedule

I think we've all been there…some of us more than once or twice. Those days you walk into the office with a pep in your step and then you glance at your schedule and instantly you just KNOW it's going to be an "interesting" day. That was me 2 weeks ago. Let me paint the picture. One of my colleagues was out and quite a few of her patients whom I've never seen before were on my schedule. I already knew those visits would disrupt my pace because there's more information gathering required, there's rapport building and trust, and then there's trying to follow the established treatment plan while also making adjustments if necessary, etc … unless they are simple routine visits, which NONE of them were, one was a whole inpatient discharge follow up! You feeling me yet!?!?

Additionally, I had a couple of initial visits for brand new patients on my schedule, those tend to engage my brain in a different way. I didn't know it yet that morning but I would also have a patient who would be bringing in?every?med he was taking from?all?of his providers because he had questions and then there was another patient for whom I had to determine if inpatient care was warranted. But wait there's more! ALL the time slots were filled, and I think on this particular day EVERY patient showed up (it's ok to admit that sometimes those no-shows are what keep you sane)! Most days are chill but I knew I was going to need to put a "plan" in place if I didn't want to go home busted that day. Here's what I quickly did to attempt to maintain my peace:

1. Turned on a low-volume playlist of calming and soothing soundscapes (YouTube has tons of options that will play live or for hours). This is calming for me at home, so it was a way for me to bring a “peace” of my home zen to the office.
2. Set my phone on a side desk out of reach to avoid checking texts, emails, and social media between patients. Traded this time for stretching and breath prayers. No time to be distracted!
3. Put 4 bottles of water on my desk - to stay hydrated, yes, but mainly to have forced (bathroom) breaks for quick recentering…genius!
4. After every 3-4 patients I closed my door and stretched my arms, legs, and back. Felt so good! I actually am trying to do this every day now.
5. Remembered that it was ok to not solve the entire problem in one visit, that’s what follow-up visits are for.

First of all, thank God this is NOT my normal day! I know my capacity and I'd definitely be a victim of burnout if my patient load consisted of this on a daily basis. As an independent contractor with this particular practice, I have mechanisms in place to promote peaceful working days such as not having more than 3 new patients per day on my schedule and not working more than 3 hours before or after lunch.

So did these extra things help? Well, I survived to write about it! Yes, I was running behind schedule most of the day by about 10-15 minutes but everyone left with hope and a good treatment plan. I was pretty mentally drained but not as bad as it would have been had I not made these small changes to my day. I highly encourage you to be very intentional about incorporating practices into your day to help you stay sane and prevent burnout. Sadly, many healthcare providers I know are better at honoring the needs of their patients than they are their own needs. Consider what would work for YOU to combat burnout and start doing it yesterday! Why? Because you deserve to still be whole at the end of your work day!