It's 5:38 PM. I just got done seeing my last patient for the day. I now have 22 charts piled on my desk that need progress notes (there were 2 no shows). I saw 7 physicals, 1 new patient, and the rest were returning patients with various problems ranging from something as easy as rechecking a high blood pressure to a laundry list of problems.
I've timed myself in the past. It takes me, on average, 4 minutes to chart and code a visit. I usually spend, on average, about 20 minutes of face to face time with a patient. So today's work will take me 8 hrs and 48 minutes to complete. I was given 6 hrs to do it in. Something doesn't seem right here.
Yesterday I decided that this situation is analogous to trying to perform phlebotomy on a member of the brassica rapa family:
"Here's another bushel o' turnips. I want 10 gallons of blood out of 'em."
"Uh, I've been squeezing and squeezing, but nothing's coming out."
"That's coz you're not squeezing hard enough."
"I think I'm squeezing as hard as I can. My hands are raw."
"C'mon, you can do better than that!"
"No, I mean it. Look, my skin is falling off."
"Squeeze HARDER! WIMP!"
"OWW! Look what you made me do. Hey, I'm bleeding!"
"See, what did I tell ya? You're getting a good gush of blood out of 'em now."
"What are you talking about? That's MY blood!"
"Look, as long as you meet your quota, we don't mind if you want to bleed on your own time."
OK. Time to chart. Although I'm starting to feel a little ........faint.......
Countdown: 101 days until target start date.
5 hours ago
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