One crucial piece of effective self-management is the ability to have access to information at any location. This starts with very simple concepts and is very well supported by tools readily available now. The major shift can be between your ears, as is true of many types of new approaches. The key idea is to keep everything electronic and to set up a system so you can remotely access your information.
Communications
All of your contact information should be housed in your main computer. This can be a desktop or a laptop, depending on your preference. This should be the main workstation where you create products and information, not just consume information. My preference for most doctors is a desktop, because it’s cheaper, you get more real estate on the screen, and it offers generally better ergonomics. Laptops do offer a stable environment, but are not necessary unless you do not spend the majority of your desk time at the same location.
The most powerful tool at your disposal for connectivity is a current smartphone. At this point over 80% of cell phones in use are not smartphones, but that is becoming a pattern of the past. Apple revolutionized this area about 4 years ago, and have created an easy to use “eco-system” that allows seamless transfer of contact information from your main workstation to the portable device, be it an iphone or an ipad. Google, Microsoft and (soon)Facebook offer excellent avenues to the same destination as well.
You’ll know you are capable of communicating regardless of your location when you never have to think about where a particular phone number, e-mail contact or web address is.
Calendars
Coordination and integration of your calendar is handled in a similar fashion to the contact information. If you are using automatic cloud based synching services, you will rarely double book or miss appointments. Use a single calendar for all functions excluding patient care. If you want your calendar to be shared with someone else (your spouse for example), you can set up your cloud services to synch the calendar to an additional user, or you can use google calendars so any user can enter new information.
Documents
Remote access to documents is a bit trickier than calendars and contacts. Most documents can be changed to pdf format, which is readable on any system. Open source format is not readable on some systems, so avoid them in the sharing context. The simplest way to remain in contact with your main workstation is to install a remote access application on your hand-held device. Log me in: ignition is an excellent product that is free and compatible with your main operating system, and will allow you to see and use your desktop as if you were actually sitting in front of your screen. You do need an internet connection, or you can use your cell link. The bigger the data set, the slower this will be, and can drain your battery and your minutes. It’s not yet a fast and automatic method for most users. Apple has recently addressed this with the newest OS, Mountain Lion, which does make this remote access automatic, but may not work with other business products. One other thing to remember is that when you are accessing a desktop remotely, a user sitting at the main screen will not be able to use the mouse and keyboard until you are logged off!
Backing up
If you are using a cloud connection for all of your devices, your information will all be accessible through any device once you log in properly. So if your main computer crashes, the new one will be able to access the information completely and quickly. If not, you can purchase a remote backup service with a company such as crashplan or carbonite. These costs are minimal and will give you a serious layer of protection against data loss. If you want to be able to restore everything on a crashed system, you need a mirroring system in place, which can be accomplished with a separate hard drive and mirroring software. Everything that you are doing on your main screen is automatically being copied to a separate device. This allows restoration of all of your software, operating systems, settings, preferences, etc in the event of a crash of the main computer. This type of backup is on-site, and cannot be done remotely for most offices.