Give me a bag of candy and I’ll be a better doctor
Monday, February 8th, 2010
Medical decision making grows more complicated daily. Before we can even focus on the problem at hand, we have to synthezise data from many diverse sources–we use the old fashioned tools of listening and talking to patients and families, then log in to computers to obtain more data, view radiology images from yet another system, and call colleagues to discuss what we know or don’t know.
Whew. Just the data gathering is complex, not to mention the actual decision making!
In a fun but scientific twist I offer a solution–give a doctor a bag of candy and we’ll make better decisions!
Our mental attitude effects how we make decisions. If we are in a negative frame of mind, we tend to close down to other diagnoses and solutions, focusing on the obvious. Furthermore, we are less likely to think in depth and go beyond the problem in front of us. We are also less likely to engage the patient. A body of work has been published, examing how affect effects clinical problem solving. If a physician has a positive frame of mind, he or she is more likely to perform a deeper analysis of the problem, be more organized in the thinking process, and arrive at a correct decision faster!
Surprisingly, a similar study showed that giving a physician a bag of candy, categorized as a small act of kindness, placed the clinician in a more positive frame of mind and inproved decision making. So what to do if no one is handing out bags of chocolate? Simply thinking about a good friend, or a favorite pet was also enough to shift frame of mind toward positivity and better decision making.
It may seem silly, but give it a whirl. I’ll try it out this week and let you know. In the meantime, of course, you are welcome to send chocolates my way. I am particularly partial to chocolove chocolate bars–the dark chocolate with raspberries
PS: tomorrow I’ll update you on the mixed results of the “do one thing differently” experiement of last week.