Becoming a doctor is a highly regarded pursuit in the UK; it is an illustrious career path, regardless of which specialism is chosen. The number of doctors working for the NHS has risen in recent years, indicating a renewed interest in the role and all it represents.
But not just anyone can complete the extensive training and take up a position as a doctor. Doctors require a particular set of skills beyond a desire and capacity to learn, and organisation is a particularly important one. Here are three reasons organisational skills are key for doctors.
Attention to Detail
One of the key ways in which organisational skills apply to work as a doctor is in the management of patient medical histories. Whether you are a specialist, consultant or GP, you will have repeat visitors and your documentation of their past visits, current treatment and upcoming milestones will be crucial to their continued receiving of high-quality healthcare.
Keeping notes on your regular patients and their conditions can also help you curry favour with them on a social basis, giving them cause to feel more at ease in your care and increasing their chances of a positive outcome.
This attention to detail is just as important for patients you only treat once; their medical history will be important for any potential future doctor’s appointments or hospital trips, and correct annotation of the treatment they received from you will be incredibly important to the care they go on to receive.
Treatment and Medication
Your organisational skills would be more directly necessary in the prescription of medications and treatments to patients. Prescriptions are a complex process, with many moving parts beneath the surface. Managing prescriptions does not stop with the filling-in of a prescription request form – though doing so correctly, carefully and attentively will ensure your patient is prescribed the correct medicine at the correct dose.
In seeing and speaking to dozens of patients a day, it can be easy to become complacent. Making mistakes with regard to patient prescriptions can result in serious injury or the mistreatment of illness. In the event of an error with a patient’s prescription, you could find yourself needing a clinical negligence claim advisor.
Deliberate attention to patient prescriptions can also help clear up issues in latter parts of the chain, like chasing up pharmacies for missing orders or ensuring records are up to date so your patient can receive their repeat prescription in a new city.
Time Management
Lastly, managing your time is a deeply important organisational skill to hold as part of being a doctor. You will have a stacked schedule, full of consultations, appointments, cohort meetings and more, plus you will need ample time to complete relevant paperwork between appointments. Without careful management of time, patient appointments can slip, as can care. If you struggle to keep on top of your daily workload, the quality of your work may suffer as a result.
