List of 16 Good Habits of a Doctor

Being a doctor requires a lot of struggle, dedication, hard work and passion. Here is a list of some good habits that a doctor should have or may add to their lifestyle to be better in their practice.

Here are Good Habits of a Doctor

Punctuality

Patients don’t like to wait and chances are that they need to be somewhere else. Therefore it’s important to value their time as well. It is now high time that we start prioritizing time and punctuality.

One can take the help of different smartphone functions like reminders, calendar alerts, etc. A doctor may even have someone in his or her team proceed with patients promptly.

Clear communication

Communication skills are extremely important in the field of medicine. There are chances that an individual does not get into this field just because his communication skills are not good enough.

It is important while delivering instructions to a company of caregivers or a team of doctors, communicating or discussing a medical issue with a co-worker, or addressing a patient who is on home care.

Communicating via emails, texts, voice messages, face to face conversations all needs clarity for the patient and team members to understand what instructions are been given. With the lack of time, everything needs to be communicated quickly and accurately.

Set up a margin in between the work and personal life

Not only for doctors but every individual finds it difficult to discrete work from personal life and vice versa. For doctors, this becomes even more difficult as people put themselves in their hospitals, clinics or offices at their convenience.

But being a doctor it is important to create boundaries between work and personal life as taking out adequate time for oneself apart from work helps in being more effectual, productive and successful in career and practice.

Learning from residents

Learning should not just be limited to books, medical school or the internet. Learning from the experience of doctors who are seniors as well as juniors can both prove to be beneficial. Junior doctors may know the latest and superior modalities that someone senior or their co-worker may not know.

Also allowing them to educate someone may help build better doctors for the future as teaching has always proved to be a better way of learning.

Networking with peers

Successful Doctors often tend to share their experiences, knowledge and information with their peers and co-workers.

This habit results in constructing a strong network system and also plays a chief role in the process of problem-solving. Doctors to be successful may also make use of social media platforms and digital technology to expand their network, and also to increase their accessibility and conformability towards information.

Successful doctors may also encircle themselves with people who have forward-thinking nature and also take time out to build relationships in and also out of their work sphere.

Practice what you preach

Successful Doctors are often considered to be mentors as well as role models for their patients, community and co-workers. They are said to lead or guide by example.

Therefore, doctors are required to implement healthy habits like exercising on regular basis, making time for relaxation as well as recreation, eating healthy and taking care of their good health.

Staying aware of the risky possibilities due to self-diagnosis, going for regular check-ups and building a good relationship with their doctors are all habits that a doctor must-have.

Emotionally intelligent

Doctors must have the ability to manage and cope with their emotions. They must also know to influence behaviour to get an intended result.

The open mindset of doctors helps them to know and understand their patients and help them accordingly.

The doctors need to have an empathetic and composed behaviour towards their patients to maintain a loyal, genuine, stable and long-term relationship. Having good communication skills also helps to achieve these.

Adherence towards excellence

To become a successful doctor, one must have a habit of constantly engaging in productive thoughts and applying them as and when needed. Practicing this habit slowly results in creating a routine and this routine helps in bringing positive outcomes to patients.

Outstanding skills in managing time

A doctor must be methodical, well organized and proactive. They know the way to represent and complete their tasks and should be quick enough to do so in the given period.

They need to report early to work to view appointments and schedules, check emails and also be punctual to attend to all their patients. Finishing all of these tasks on time needs really good skills in time management.

Having exceptional ethics at work

Being reliable, self-motivated, trustworthy and dedicated are few qualities that a doctor should possess. They are constructive and productive members of a team who successfully unite with specialists.

Their co-workers cooperate to minimize or to completely shrink the amount of human error that altogether results in improving the health of patients. Privacy and confidentiality are extremely important to earn the respect and trust of the community, patients and peers.

Flexibility

With the rapid change and advancement in the field of medicine, a doctor needs to be quick enough to adapt to these changes. They need to modify and adjust their methods and practices according to these changes and advancements.

A good doctor needs to constantly educate himself on the newest studies and accept all of them with an open mindset and a positive attitude.

Being passionate about work

Passionately doing their work is one of the signs of a good and successful doctor. The passion for their work is directly reflected in the dedication as well as a discipline with which they work for others well being.

This kind of attitude lays a concrete substructure or base for the success of doctors and other medical professionals as well.

Leadership

Being hard-working, dedicated, skillful, compassionate as well as a leader are some qualities that should never be ignored or compromised on.

A good leader apart from encouraging his or her team also deliberately mentors and supervises the juniors, Keeps in mind the safety of patients, and delegate appropriately.

Team Building

Motivating oneself and also the team against all odds has always been a challenge in the field of medicine. But identifying the objectives and strategies of building a team and pursuing them accordingly as always proved to be a great method of achieving success.

Avoiding pitfall

A good doctor must have the ability to foresee the problems and solve them before they occur.

This ability can be developed by maintaining a crosschecking mentality. Having this ability to solve and controlling problems is much more a needed quality than completely keeping out of troubles.

If a mistake is committed a good doctor should also have the manners to apologize to the patient and his relatives. It is also important to learn from the mistakes and to prevent them in future than completely neglecting or overlooking them.

Drinking water when hungry

This is a habit that is recommended by doctors as well. Even drinking water before having meals also prevents thirst and also does not allow to eat much.

This is a good habit as it also prevents being dehydrated. Drinking water more is commonly recommended and is suggested to be a good habit.

Add veggies to your diet

Nutrients like folic acid, daily fibre, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, and potassium are rich in green vegetables. And good doctors need to add these essential nutrients to their body and hence it is very important to add them to their diet.

Green vegetables lack additives that are unhealthy and this helps them to effortlessly slip into any diet.

Pen down a little bit about your daily activity

Journaling on daily basis helps a doctor to process all the events of every single day, trace any kind of health issue that might have emerged.

Writing has always proved to be a great trick to manage stress and as we all are well aware of the fact that a doctor’s life and work schedule is very hectic, journaling in total can never be proved to be a bad idea.

Meditate and find time to relax

Meditation has constantly been an excellent tool that helps to deal with anxiety as well as stress. It also helps a person to get better sleep.

Meditating daily is not only advised for doctors but patients and people in general. With frantic work and daily routine doctors, are ought to make room for relaxation and meditation.

It will not only help to be better at practice but will also contribute to having good health. To have a healthy lifestyle, a doctor must not ignore the need and benefits of mediation and relaxation.