Attention Matters in Anesthesiology

Different fields in medicine rely on different cognitive abilities. One might posit that a successful internist would be good at integrating information; a surgeon, three-dimensional representations of anatomy; an anesthesiologist, being vigilant to events that will harm the patient. The American Society of Anesthesiologists defines our mindset as ‘Vigilance’ and maintaining it is the Holy Grail of our profession. Google give the definition of vigilance as: The action or state of keeping careful watch for possible danger or difficulties. to which I would add ‘over an extended period of time.’ In a nutshell, that’s what anesthesiologists do in the operating room–remain vigilant. Vigilance is composed of several components. One is the ability to divide one’s attention among several things at once (divided attention). Another is the ability to focus one’s attention on a particular aspect of the environment (selective attention). During a case we shift back and forth between divided attention and selective attention tasks to various degrees. An additional aspect of attention is whether it is automatic or controlled. This can be especially challenging at the beginning and end of the case when we have lots of things to do (a so called “high task density”). Psychologists have made great strides in understanding how the human mind works when it focusses attention, and it contains some surprises! In the operating roo...
Source: Waking Up Costs - Category: Anesthesiology Authors: Tags: Anesthesia Medical Software Source Type: blogs