Go with the Flow

Sunday, August 7, 2011 at 2:35PM
Chris Mimnagh in Flow, general practice, innovation, performance

It's interesting looking at how other professionals work to see if there's something we can adopt in medicine. This last month or so I've been interested in Flow. It all started with the golf, a young player nails the first round, leads the board but next time around he's hopeless- the yips have struck.

Equally in snooker, darts, chess, whatever there are moments when the players are so "in the moment" that for them the game is over in seconds, their performance is faultless, the result dramatic.

This state of "Flow" is something we should be able to promote in medicine. At the very least we should be able to redesign our environments to promote the chances of us being able to deliver an optimal experience.

Here are  a few suggestions to be going on with:

• Prevent interruptions when focus is needed- do not disturb rules.
• Promote an environment which facilitates relaxation
• DO ONE TASK AT A TIME
• Turn off e-mail notification, mobile phones etc.
• Plan the session to reduce breaks in flow- prepare papers, tools etc.

I'm sure there are dozens of other ways we can go with the flow, I'll keep looking and let you know.

Article originally appeared on Clinical Creativity (http://clinicalcreativity.squarespace.com/).