One time-management tip that did not make it into the February issue of PAES (but is covered in great detail in Maximize Your Time and Efficiency) is improving your main skills.
The short of it is, if you could improve the most common things you do and do them better and faster, then everything would be better and faster.
I spend a lot of time sewing in the OR. I spend a lot of time practicing out of the OR and focusing on it inside the OR to get faster. I’m as fast as any of the plastic surgeons. I wasn’t when I started, but I am now. Learning to sew faster saves me time every time I sew. On a breast reduction, I spend at least a minimum of 45 minutes sewing. On a tummy tuck, probably the same.
I’d guess I spend about 4-8 hours per week stitching. Let’s pretend I cut my time by 10%. That’s a huge chunk of time. And the beauty of it is that once I have that skill, I have it forever.
Learning the skills you use and learning them well is a very valuable way to spend your time.
There are a few areas to learn that, if you could get better at them, would make what you’re doing now and in the future so much easier.
The first includes time management and efficient work habits; you may think you have this one down, but there is always room for improvement. Pavarotti had a singing coach for goodness sakes. Improving in these areas helps now and will compound throughout your life.
The second is test taking skills. Test taking requires a set of skills that you likely have never been taught. If you could learn to boost your scores by 10 or 15% just through acquiring some skills, how much of a difference would that make during your career? EORS, PANCE, PANRE, BLS, ACLS, PALS…the tests go on and on for us.
And third is studying skills – the ultimate mega-skill. I can’t think of anything more valuable than learning to learn better. Again, I know you think you may have this one down, but there are entire libraries and careers devoted to this subject. Are we so arrogant as to think we’ve got it all worked out?
These are three very important pillars of PA school and beyond. I plan on covering all three in 2021 in great detail.
The February issue of PAES is about the time management and getting through all of your work. It really is in many ways a primer to my course Maximize Your Time and Efficiency. It’s lays the groundwork for the tips, techniques, and tactics in that course.
The March issue is going to cover test taking, and later this year I’m covering studying.
I think these skills should be developed in this priority because this is how they can most quickly affect your grades and your test scores.
It’s the fastest way. Anyway, it begins in February
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Brian Wallace
