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Fam Pract Manag. 2023;30(3):27

FRAME NON-CLINICAL TIME AS A “WIN-WIN”

Engaging in non-patient-care professional activities can help with physician sustainability and retention, but employers may be reluctant to block time for this without a clear return on investment. It helps to frame these activities as opportunities that benefit your employer as well. For example, teaching residents can recruit a pipeline of future candidates for the organization; quality improvement projects can lead to system efficiencies, enhanced patient safety, and better care outcomes; and advocacy work can result in policies and payment models that improve primary care.

Adding structure and predictability to these activities is also mutually beneficial. Request that these “professional development” activities have a defined role, scope, anticipated outcomes, and dedicated time. This could mean blocking a set amount of time weekly, with an expectation of reporting outcomes associated with the activity annually. Tracking the benefits will make your employer more likely to approve future requests.

If your employer is worried about limiting patient access and does not want to reduce patient care time, consider flexible schedules. For example, a physician who has a weekly four-hour block of protected time for these activities could add one hour of patient care on the other four days of the week.

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Practice Pearls presents readers' advice on practice operations and patient care, along with tips drawn from the literature. Submit a pearl (250 words or less) to FPM at fpmedit@aafp.org.

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