Residency coordinators: Get your to-do list out of your head
Our 2009 salary survey revealed that many coordinators feel that there just aren’t enough hours in the day to complete everything that’s on their to-do list. When asked what the biggest challenge they’re facing, respondents gave answers such as:
- Managing the workload and meeting deadlines as the result of recent staff cuts
- Trying to get everything done in a 40-hour workweek and not being able to get overtime
- Having a large workload and not getting things organized before the next task comes along
Feeling overwhelmed is unpleasant, to say the least. Take your anxiety levels down a few notches by using to do lists. It sounds obvious, but I have spoken to countless coordinators who keep it all in their head. The problem is that causes your brain to multi-task when it doesn’t have to.
To help get coordinators into the to-do list habit, the September issue of Residency Program Alert included a primer on how to pick the best to-do list format and how to manage it effectively. One tip really jumped out at me, and I wanted to share it with everyone.
Although some people like the written list (me included), radiology coordinator Sally Jones told RPA that she uses Excel to manage her daily to-do list. She enters one item per cell, and as priorities shift throughout the day, she can click on the cells and drag them up and down the list. “When I finish something, I delete it from the list, and I am so satisfied,” Jones says.
What to-do tricks to you have? Leave a comment below describing how you keep up with daily, monthly, and yearly tasks.
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Julie McCoy
Julie McCoy is the associate editor for the residency market at HCPro, Inc.
Julie has written 192 posts.
Comments
I keep two different to do list, one for daily/weekly and a long term to do list
Having a white board on my office wall with long term items – usually projects needed to be done within the next month – helps keep those things on the radar but then having a daily list on my desk keeps me organized throughout the day.
My hospital uses Groupwise for email. It also has a calendar which includes areas for “notes” which appear only on the selected day or “tasks” which will continue to appear until either deleted or checked off as complete.
I use mostly the tasks feature to remind me about weekly, monthly or once-in-awhile tasks.If I don’t get to an item on one day, it changes color to indicate that item is past due. It is possible in all calendar functions to set up recurring appointments, notes or tasks for the entire year. This is how I keep myself organized – how I remember what needs to be done during each part of the residency season.
A “To Do” list works for me. I just simply use a legal pad and jot down the date in the column and the task next to it. During the day, I take the pad with me from meeting to meeting.
I started using Toodledo about 18 months ago, which is a free web-based “to do” list site. Not only is your list available all of the time on the web, but you can have it e-mailed to you, show up on your calendar and cell phone, your RSS reader or via IM. If you already use another task manager (Outlook, Palm, etc.), those tasks can be imported into Toodledo. You can even collaborate with another user (your program director) to share and assign tasks.
You can create multiple folders (for example, some I use are Recruitment, Scheduling, Conferences, Visiting Professors) with tasks and subtasks in each. You can give yourself a deadline and receive reminders, or, for things that you just don’t want to forget about, add them without a deadline. It’s particularly well-suited to projects where each step can be broken out as a task.
Tasks can be sorted and viewed in many different ways, so that you can find just what you are looking for. You can even estimate how much time a task will take when you enter it, and then, if you have some time available and your not sure what you’d like to do, you can tell the software that you have 30 minutes and it will show you all of the tasks that you could accomplish from your list in that amount of time.
It takes a little time to set up and play with until you get a good feeling for what will work best for you, but once done, it’s invaluable.
It’s VERY satisfying to click the checkbox and refresh your screen!
I like the white board! I’m definitely a visual coordinator as my PD is also. Hmm seeing that I share an office I’m wondering if she would put this up on her wall?
Thanks for all the suggestions. Kristine
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