EP13. Improve Your Efficiency

24H Le Mans 2013

Wish you were faster in the ED?  Believe it or not, the key to being more efficient is NOT about speed or the ability to multitask.  Instead, becoming an efficient emergency physician takes practice, experience, and the use of some key strategies to increase your productivity.  Be prepared to work hard, work smart, and learn how to task-switch effectively.

In addition, I highly recommend you read this important and informative letter, written by the CDEM Executive Committee, addressing the recent ranking of EM residency programs by U.S. News and World Report and Doximity.

And as an added bonus, check out this just-released video on presenting patients in the ED, put together by some amazingly talented peeps at EMRA and CDEM.  It is hot stuff.

References

  1. Kee R, Knott JC, Dreyfus S, Lederman R, Milton S, Joe K. One hundred tasks an hour: an observational study of emergency department consultant activities. Emerg Med Australas. 2012;24(3):294-302.
  2. Stephens RJ, Fairbanks RJ. Humans and multitask performance: let’s give credit where credit is due. Acad Emerg Med. 2012;19(2):232-4.
  3. Chisholm CD, Dornfeld AM, Nelson DR, Cordell WH. Work interrupted: a comparison of workplace interruptions in emergency departments and primary care offices. Ann Emerg Med. 2001;38(2):146-51.
  4. Chisholm CD, Weaver CS, Whenmouth L, Giles B. A task analysis of emergency physician activities in academic and community settings. Ann Emerg Med. 2011;58(2):117-22.
  5. Chisholm CD, Collison EK, Nelson DR, Cordell WH. Emergency department workplace interruptions: are emergency physicians “interrupt-driven” and “multitasking”?. Acad Emerg Med. 2000;7(11):1239-43.
  6. Laxmisan A, Hakimzada F, Sayan OR, Green RA, Zhang J, Patel VL. The multitasking clinician: decision-making and cognitive demand during and after team handoffs in emergency care. Int J Med Inform. 2007;76(11-12):801-11.
  7. Westbrook JI, Woods A, Rob MI, Dunsmuir WT, Day RO. Association of interruptions with an increased risk and severity of medication administration errors. Arch Intern Med. 2010;170(8):683-90.Photo above Creative Commons License Antoine Valentini via Compfight

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