Buried under paperwork

[canna42]

Hey everyone,

Well I had one week of orientation (sort of ) before nurse training me got sick and had to quit. The paperwork is sooooo different from hospital. She was 2 months behind on filing hence, i am now really behind. The hunt for charts takes a huge amount of my time. I see no light at the end of this tunnel. Who does the filing in your offices? Lots of what i am doing should be done by secretary. There are 4 in the office which our office has only 2 doctors. I am frustrated beyond my limits and so is doctor. I just don't know how to fix it and office manager doesn't either. I am already working 60 hrs week. I thought this job would give me more time with my kids but it is getting me less time. I have already lost 9 lbs in the 4 weeks i have been there. So stressed out I am having difficulty eating. Not that i get much time to eat anyway. Suppose to have half hour but ends up being 10 minutes. Don't mean to vent but i can only afford maybe 10 more lbs ha ha..will have to get all new clothes and will look almost anorexic..seriously would be hard on my health. Any suggestions would be appreciated!!!!!! Thanks Canna:(

[SHELLYBELLYRN]

OK, Canna, I have a few questions:

1. what do the secretaries in your office do right now? they should be filing the papers, pulling your charts for you, etc........so you have more time for patient care.

2. Are patients being seen through your lunch time or are they gone but you're working on messages, etc? It may be time for you to set boundaries and just leave for lunch at a certain time, regardless.....not everything is urgent..some things can wait a bit. Also remember that you have a legal right to your lunchtime!

Your health needs to come first.

3. Have you had a staff meeting to address this? Perhaps you need all the staff, including your dr., the office manager, and the secretaries to sit down, talk it out, and decide how to better divide the tasks........you can't be expected to do everything. This is especially important if the secretaries always get to leave on time, but you are stuck working late hours (I have been there!!!)

4. Are you having other problems in the office? (like learning skills, etc?)

Feel free to e-mail me any more questions.........I worked through a lot of problems in the office I recently worked in, and may have more suggestions for specific problems........