Yesterday was my first day back after a 3-day weekend. I had planned this absence, as I had a meeting out of town. Despite having cut my hours last fall, I still found myself going home late yesterday with lots of work to do from home.
Some of this was my fault, for not having checked in by computer (while away) to wade through multiple phone messages, e-mails, pharmacy requests.
Some things were unavoidable and time consuming, like having to call patients with a new diagnosis of cancer. (Don’t worry, I didn’t give them the diagnosis over the phone; they wanted to talk about what their specialist had told them.) Or squeezing in a 30 minute visit (it probably took 40) into a 15 minute slot because the new scheduler messed up.
It might be said that I was cranky as I left the office late with many things undone. It might also be said that my husband was unimpressed with my “reduced clinical load.”
However, when we considered what the day might have looked like with another hour of patient visits (and notes, and results), we both feel very grateful that I reduced my work load by 10% last year. I could easily have been at work another 2 hours, and still had just as much work left to do today.
I’m hoping I’ll catch up soon, and enjoy a few truly 90% effort weeks this summer.