Dealing With Information Overload: Solutions For Physicians

Information is power. However, there are situations where access to too much information can be a bad thing. 

Physicians are among professionals whose work often handles and relies on the most up-to-date information. As a physician, it’s essential to keep up with all happenings and updates within the medical and specialized fields of study. 

However, medical journals are only some of the information doctors need to pay attention to. On any given day, a doctor can receive up to 200 work-related emails and other medical-related literature, resulting in information overload. 

Effects Of Information Overload

The simplest definition of information overload is the state of being overrun by the amount of data requiring your attention. Information overload can lead to multitasking, distractions, stress, loss of productivity, and a slowing down of the decision-making process, all of which can affect the quality of physicians’ services.

“Information overload is not only a problem for the physician. It affects the physician’s office staff, including nurses and office administrators,” says Seth Price, founder of MedShark Digital. Sometimes, physicians can spend up to 8 hours per week dealing with information that requires their attention, which is a lot considering that they must also attend to patients. 

As a result, physicians tend to work even when they ought to be resting, which ultimately leads to stress and poor work-life balance. It is not uncommon to find physicians devoting evenings, vacations, and weekends to dealing with their inboxes, which can sometimes cause stress in their personal lives.

Increase Your Human Resource

Strained relationships, stress, and burnout are dangerous for physicians, as this can affect their attention, creativity, and problem-solving skills and ultimately increase their chances of making errors that could lead to liability lawsuits. 

Having access to information as a physician is essential, and learning how to minimize overload is equally important and can be done in a few steps. First, hire enough personnel to handle the paperwork that may not need your attention. Secondly, have your employees help you with email correspondence on matters that do not require expert input, such as booking appointments. 

Bring Order To Your Inbox

You can also use technology to sort your mail. Some apps can help you manage your emails by sorting them based on priority and subject. Using such an app can help you prioritize and delegate subjects, thus reducing your workload as a physician. 

It is also helpful to separate your personal and work emails using different addresses. This can help prevent emails from marketers and friends from adding to your problem. To further declutter your inbox, remove any important emails and unsubscribe from email lists you no longer need.

Avoid Distractions

When handling patients, you want to ensure that there is as little distraction as possible. You may need to turn off notifications for calls, texts, and emails to ensure that all your attention is on the patient. 

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