I am Dr. Gillian Schmitz, Associate Program Director, UT San Antonio: How I Work Smarter

Today we feature another young star in our field. Dr. Gillian Schmitz (@GillianMD1 ) is part of the next generation of emergency medicine leaders. In her young career she has already been decorated with several teaching awards, including the Academy for Women in Academic Emergency Medicine Early Career Faculty Award. An active member of EMRA as a resident, she continues her societal involvement as the chair of the ACEP Academic Affairs Committee. In a recent move to UT San Antonio, she helped launch a new residency program and currently serves as the associate program director. Dr. Schmitz kindly shares her pearls about life management.

• Name: Gillian Schmitz, MD, FACEP
• Location: UT San Antonio
• Current job: Associate Professor, Associate Program Director, UT San Antonio EM Residency
• One word that best describes how you work: Hard
• Current mobile device: iPhone 6
• Current computer: MacBook Pro

What’s your office workspace setup like?

At work, single office with a lot of distractions and thin walls at work. I work more efficiently at home in my office or at my kitchen table.

What’s your best time-saving tip in the office or home?

• Close the door.
• I keep a “To Do” List on my desktop that I modify constantly. I’m a big fan of lists and feel a sense of accomplishment crossing things off every day. :)

What’s your best time-saving tip regarding email management?

• I try to keep the inbox down to 0 and open things only once.
• I have a lot of folders and sub-folders to keep things organized and easy to find.
• I don’t respond to Facebook messages.

What’s your best time-saving tip in the ED?

Macros! And making friends with the nurses and PAs, they help me out a lot!

ED charting: Macros or no macros?

Absolutely macros.

What’s the best advice you’ve ever received about work, life, or being efficient?

• Do what makes you happy. I find that people who really have a passion for something will end up being successful. You have to love what you do every day to be consistently good at it and maintain that drive without burning out.
• Work-life balance is not 50% / 50% every day, that leads to mediocrity. Working your butt off to reach an achievable goal and then taking time to come up for air is a more sustainable strategy that allows for balance but persistent growth and challenge.

Is there anything else you’d like to add that might be interesting to readers?

Arnold Schwartzennager has a funny 5 minute You Tube Video on his 5 Tips for Success. He actually has several good points. My favorite though is when he says that we only need 6 hours of sleep. For those that sleep 8-9 hours a night, his advice is “sleep faster”. That always makes me laugh and is apparently something I need to work on…

Who would you love for us to track down to answer these same questions?

1. Dr. Chad Kessler
2. Dr. Abhi Mehrotra
3. Dr. Dara Kass

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