On Friday last week, I actually shouted at my phone… I hasten to add, not at the person on the other end, just at the phone itself! Now, before you question my sanity (although that’s already the subject of some concern), I wasn’t going mad, I was just frustrated at the number of times I’d been interrupted. These were internal calls – my deputy doesn’t work on a Friday and I don’t have a reception manager/supervisor, so I was getting all the queries. We’ve got three sites, so that’s three front desks, in effect, with three independent teams working on them.
Ordinarily, I would say to my team I’d rather you bother me with a query than make a mistake. However, on this particular Friday, I was trying to get all of those end-of-week/month jobs completed – and, quite frankly, some of the interruptions seemed unnecessary. You might well say, “Why not put a ‘do not disturb’ on your phone?” Well, when I’m in meetings, I will do this. However, this was a normal day; the reception wasn’t even particularly busy – it was steady, but not overloaded. But by the sixth interruption in what was probably no more than an hour, my temper was frayed.
To be fair, a couple of the queries came from a relatively new-in-post receptionist, and she wanted to check that what she was doing was correct – and, of course, that’s absolutely fine. But by query number six, I have to admit, I shouted, “What the absolute…!” at the phone. Having got that off my chest, I then counted to ten and calmly answered the call so the person on the other end wouldn’t know I was feeling ratty (and that’s an understatement). In my sweetest voice, I asked, “What do you think you should do in this situation?” The receptionist gave me the perfect answer and I was able to say that I agreed – job done.
Despite my lack of patience at times (I am human after all), I’m trying to engender an environment that’s supportive – one where the team members know they can come to me (if my door is open), and I always tell them there’s no such thing as a stupid question – and there really isn’t! It’s usually the pace of work and the demands put on us that cause us to lose patience, not the queries we receive.
Of course, the same rule of ‘there’s no such thing as a stupid question’ applies to the patients too – and occasionally I have to remind myself of this fact! Especially when I’m under pressure and my train of thought has been interrupted several times.
You all know I’m a complete dinosaur of primary care – and years and years of questions are doing nothing for my old health and temper. I’m the first to admit, I need to keep a close eye on my fuse, which is blowing rather more than it ever used to do. And I think that after the last few years of working in general practice – especially during the unforeseen pressures of the Covid pandemic – many of us are feeling the same way. Our nerves are on edge.
So, any hints and tips for maintaining a peaceful mind at work would be gratefully received (please feel free to add them to the comments section below this blog)! Thank you.
Nicola Davies
June 9, 2023 at 8:50 am
Always enjoy your articles Nicola and completely identify with this.
No particular tips – think you’ve mentioned all the ones I would use….but the comment about no stupid questions from patients also resonated and maybe something I need to feed in to conversations here as it is so easy to get frustrated by the silly questions and expectations.
Happy Friday!
June 9, 2023 at 9:17 am
Interesting to read that others are also feeling more ratty.
I’ve found my patience, especially for others incompetence (mainly outside the Practice, PCSE, poorly written specs/demands/ongoing IT issues) has dramatically reduced in the past year or so. I thought maybe its just that I’ve become jaded as have been around a while.
I’ve recently found telling myself every time I had (what I deemed) a stupid issue to deal with that this IS the job helped. Instead of seeing it as getting in the way of my real job (so had no value) by viewing it as part of my job the mindset shift has somehow helped.
Your article helped too as its always good to know you’re not alone.
June 9, 2023 at 10:23 am
I can completely relate to what you were saying and also have to talk myself round on occasions, (ever increasingly these days!) from a wound up state on the edge of flipping, back to the manager I want to be.
I guess one tip could be to count to 10 slower in the hope that by the time you have finished they have abandoned the call thinking you aren’t in your office 🙂
I do think it is a difficult balance though, because I have always encouraged questions and agree with you, that I would prefer people ask rather than get it wrong, but I do also wonder if I have been so open with this now that people seem to forget to think for themselves, or even try to work anything out. I think I need to try to spend that little bit extra time sometimes guiding people to where they can find the answers rather than just giving the answer, which I have often done just because it is quicker.
I think the need for an occasional shout at the phone, or mini scream, will always be there though to help keep me sane!
June 9, 2023 at 10:52 am
My immediate response was to reply ‘gin helps!’, but my humour doesn’t always across in text! But there you go; humour helps.
The interruptions are a necessary pain, unfortunately. I’ve literally had four people in my room, all waiting for the person in front to finish with their query & then the phone going, at the same time.
I really think we should be able to work at least one day from home, where there are no interruptions & I just plough through my work, but my partners are twitchy about that. I’ve tried to persuade them, even telling them that the accountant we use walked out of my office by lunchtime to go work from home, because of the constant interruptions!
Appealing to the team when you first arrive to keep queries to a minimum for that day, where possible, can sometimes help.
Otherwise, it’s the usual pull up your big girl knickers, don the Wonder Woman headband & cape & soldier on! I sleep in that outfit…..
July 11, 2023 at 1:57 pm
This is a very short and crispy method of understanding the subject. It is really helpful and gives confidence too.
Thanks to you