Essential Tips for Maintaining Productivity During Locum Assignments

Whether you’re in private practice, on staff at a large medical center or working a locum tenens contract in a city far, far away, productivity is an asset worth cultivating. 

In your locum tenens role, you will have numerous tasks and responsibilities vying for your time. This includes paperwork, interruptions from colleagues and staff, patient volumes and the ever-present demand of electronic medical records.  

If you aren’t careful, these demands could keep you from caring for patients – which is the reason you went into medicine in the first place! That’s why learning how to maintain your productivity during a locum tenens assignment is so important. These tips can help! 

Delegate

First, learn to delegate. And when you delegate, start with the EMR. If you aren’t proficient with your facility’s EMR system, you’re going to spend more time here than with the patient. When appropriate, consider delegating EMR tasks to another member of your team.  

Set a Schedule

Take some time at the beginning of each week – or the beginning of each day, if that works for you – to set a schedule. Don’t allow extra meetings or nonessential tasks to be added to that schedule once it’s been set. 

It also helps if you get to work a few minutes each day. This gives you time take a few deep breathes, get the lay of the land and head off any potential challenges before your shift begins. 

Don’t Multitask

New studies have shown that multi-tasking is a myth – or at least, can be counterproductive. Concentrate on one task at a time as often as you can. That way, you can conserve the mental energy it takes to flip between different subjects and tasks. 

Avoid Distractions

Have you heard of the Internet? Yes, it’s a great tool to help us do our jobs better and more efficiently, but it can also be a time sucker. If productivity is your goal, make sure you are managing your Internet usage well. Set a timer when you sit down to work online. If you finish the task before the timer goes off, congratulations! You were productive and focused. Now, you can take a few minutes to let your mind wander. 

A few other tips? Invest in noise-cancelling headphones. Turn off notifications on your phone and computer. And don’t be afraid to shut the door, or ask staff to keep interruptions to a minimum. 

Don’t Forget to Sleep

You know sleep is a necessity for good health and productivity. Without it, we all have trouble concentrating and are more prone to making mistakes. When you’re making your schedule for the week, make sure you leave enough time for a good night’s sleep every night. 

Exercise

As a healthcare provider, chances are, you’ve counseled patients to add more exercise to their day. Guess what? You should take that advice, too. A little light exercise throughout the day can help keep the blood circulating, relieve stress and boost concentration.  

Read Minds When You Can

While no two days in the life of a healthcare provider are the exactly the same, there are a few situations and questions you can learn to anticipate. If you can, be ready with the necessary information for those situations and you’ll be working efficiently! 

Hopefully, these tips will help you be more efficient and productive wherever your next locum assignment takes you! As you chart your own professional path, let us help!

SUMO Medical Staffing has a proven track record in helping healthcare professionals find locum jobs that best fit their specific needs. Our staffing representatives are ready to discuss your career goals and future. Request a consultation with a locum tenens staffing specialist today.