7. Single-use workstations. Doctors who can sit side by side with their nurses and talk about the patient as they’re working on the EHR can save 30 minutes per day. But most office practice setups don’t accommodate that interaction.
8. Small monitors. Being able to see a large display of information rather than a tiny swatch can save 20 minutes of physician time a day, Dr. Sinsky said.
9. A long sign-in process. Streamlining the way a doctor signs into a computer, perhaps with the use of technologies like the tap of one’s badge, “can save 14 minutes of physician time a day,” Dr. Sinsky said.
10. Underuse of medical and nursing students. Practices are beginning to hire premed and prenursing students as assistants who shadow the physician with each patient. While the physician is “giving undivided attention to the patient, the practice partner is cuing up the orders, doing the billing invoice ,and recording much of the encounter.” At the University of California, Los Angeles, researchers found that the use of these assistants saves 3 hours of physician time each day (JAMA Intern Med. 2014;174[7]:1190-3).