313. Charting with Ease: A Mindful Approach for Physicians

Most physicians I coach are not behind on charts because they don't know how to write a note.

They are behind because of what happens inside them while they are writing one.

The over-explaining. The re-reading. The second-guessing. The quiet hum of fear that someone — a patient, a colleague, a lawyer, a future self — will find the note insufficient. 

This episode is about charting from a different place.

Most charting advice for physicians is mechanical. Templates. Dot phrases. Macros. AI scribes. Time-blocking. These tools matter, and they help. But they don't address the problem of our nervous system state.

When you chart from depletion, every note takes longer. When you chart from fear, every note takes longer.

When you chart from presence, notes get shorter, cleaner, and finished.

This is what I mean by mindful charting. 

A NOTE ON THE WORD "EASE"

Ease does not mean fast. It does not mean automatic. It does not mean charting becomes something you love. Ease means the writing of a note no longer costs you the rest of your evening. Ease means you finish the chart and you still have energy left over

REFLECTION QUESTIONS

• What state are you usually in when you sit down to chart?

• What is the purpose of the note you are writing, and who am I writing it for?

• Where in your charting is perfectionism showing up as thoroughness?

• What would change if you trusted your clinical judgment?
   

Coaching, one-on-one or in small groups, is another way to explore what you are asking for more room in your life.

Nothing shared in the Healing Medicine Podcast is medical advice.

The Healing Medicine Podcast was formerly known as the Mindful Healers Podcast.