Escaping From the Time Trap
People began keeping track of time around 2000 BC. Given what has happened since, and the expectations for productivity that have come to be expected per unit of time, one may wonder whether the whole effort to keep track of time was a bad move.
Lack of time is acutely felt in the healthcare industry today. Both patients and providers cite the greatest satisfaction coming from the perception of time spent with each other. Both lament the relentless erosion of this time over the past 25 years.
Bureaucrats and administrators have, shall we say, a different perspective as to what "productive" time is. Given the efficiencies of scheduling, electronic systems, and the volume of patient care demanded, we have reached a zenith of what is possible to pack into each working hour. Is there another way to improve productivity instead of simply adding more hours?
As an example of how things have changed, one study of internists done in the late 1970s found that "the general internist averaged 50 hospital encounters and 51.4 office visits per week. He or she spent 5.6 hours per work day in patient care activities, which included 2.4 hours per day doing office examinations and 2.0 hours in the hospital. The average length of an outpatient encounter was 18.4 minutes."
