WSJ author Melinda Beck suggests we place ourselves in danger when we try to do to many things as the same time. Yet, unplugging as restorative value. Ms Beck provide 5 ways to improve our function and safety.

1. Recognize your limitations. The brain can only attend to one thing at a time.
2. Make your senses work together. If you’re trying to listen to someone in a noisy room, look directly at the speaker.
3. Focus on what’s important. Many professions—from pilots to police officers—depend on keen powers of observation. Training and practice help. But experts say things like chess and video games likely won’t expand your overall attention span.
4. Allocate blocks of time to specific tasks. Sometimes a deadline can force people to focus.
5. Avoid distracted driving. Don’t talk on a cellphone, text or give voice commands while at the wheel.

Now the good news. University of Utah researchers found a rare group of “supertaskers.” About 2.5% of the population seem to be able to attend to more than one thing with ease.

the death rate was cut in half when the checklist was accompanied by residents who asked the attending physicians how to act on information related to matters such as antibiotic prescribing, ventilator use and central-line placement.

An AMA article interviewed the principle investigator, Curtis H. Weiss, MD. Nudging is the key.

…We’re designing an electronic checklist and plan to compare that to personal prompting.” Building the nudge into health information technology could have its own drawbacks, Dr. Weiss said. “My main concern with electronic prompting is alarm fatigue.

How do we overcome alarm fatigue?
What would be on your list of things to nudge about?

”

…the new federal standards mark a shift in thinking toward improving the patient experience…

News article from the LA Times about Disney’s Building a Culture of Healthcare Excellence 3-1/2 day seminar for health care professionals. Patients are not customers but guests. Staff are “on stage.”

“If any [employee] happens to say something out of sorts or creates a bit of ill will with that patient, they may damn the entire hospital,”

Federal Standards? Click here

Courtesy of Disney

04/04/11
04/11/11
04/18/11
04/25/11

I subscribe to the electronic calendar that Amion provides and sync it to my Apple iCalendar and iPhone. Then when trades are made, the scheduler approves the trade and the schedule calendar is updated automatically to my calendar. I don’t have to write the dates in a book or type them into my desktop calendar or keep track of them. It is all done for me through subscription.

Amion syncs to Google Calendar, Apple iCal, iPhone, and Outlook 2007.

At your place of business, what mashup would you like to see? Which widgets would you like on your desktop? That’s one of the critical questions to Decision Support in healthcare.