Things to Consider for your Clinical Hours

In my practice I differentiate between clinical and non clinical hours. Clinical hours being direct F2F with patients. Here are some tips I use to help with my schedule. Keep in my mind, I have 3 kiddos, a chronic illness, and we are a military family so use what works for you and adapt to what works best for your life. 

• I schedule 15 minutes in between each patient, this allows me to finish the note, eat, stretch, do a couple sun salutations, use the restroom, and check the phone.

• Unless there is an emergency, I don’t complete documentation outside of session (FMLA, Fitness for Duty, letters for employers, etc.).

• I only see patients on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday (obviously with emergencies, I can get someone in the schedule on either a Monday or a Friday).

• Most consider full time as 20 hours but due to a variety of factors, I can only see 15 patients per week-so 15 is full time for me.

• Some people prefer to do 2-3 sessions then have a longer break then start again, but I need to be out as early as possible in the day because I don’t think as clearly later in the day. 

• I created a notes check box template for myself so I can quickly do notes.

• I don’t typically do recurring appointments-I do have a few. I prefer for my schedule to not be that dictated in advance. Most of my patients are biweekly so it allows me a bit more freedom. It can make pay more unpredictable however.

• I don’t schedule personal appointments on Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday if I can avoid it-I leave those to Mondays or Fridays (preferably Mondays since most CEs are on Fridays)

• I can’t really do more than 5 appointments in day anymore, so unless it’s an emergency, I won’t