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Left limb, Left brain-Right brain, Right limb
Posted 10:11 AM, October 27, 2007, by lonyaiToday we worked as a team--by taking about the body. Luckily, not our own body, nor that of our patient or horse. But rather we virtually "created" a body, by four of us coming together. Each person played one role: left limb, left brain, right brain or right limb. I was lucky enough to start as the left brain. As an undergraduate neuroscience major, I had a hard time unlateralizing (if that's a word) brain function and activity. I kept thinking that the left brain was going to move the right limb and vice-versa. However, physical proximity to our respective limb helped (as left brain I was immediately adjacent to the limb I was to move, the left).
The first decision I helped to make with my fellow brain was to have the four part of the body disconnect. After all, it was getting a bit awkward to have the four of us stand with arms linked, especially when anticipating that we would have to move like that to harness and saddle a horse. Indeed--keeping in mind a rule of the game that we had to "stay connected"--we argued that we would be "mentally connected." Seemed good to my right brain, but soon after unlinking arms, a violation was immediately called. Somewhat dazzled, especially as this was the first round of the game, we were surprised and somewhat embarrassed that we had misunderstood the rules of the game, and that "mentally connected" was a weak substitute for "physically connected" (tell any psychologist/psychiatrist that!).
It was not until the wrap up at the end of our day, that the right brain and I realized that in fact the violation that had been called earlier was because the right brain had pointed (NOT because we had dropped arms and stayed "mentally connected"). I think there is value to be found in this game on many levels--but the one that this example more clearly demonstrates is the need for effective communication at all parts of a process. At the beginning the group thought that they had understood the rules of the game, but when the violation was called we realized we weren't exactly sure. Could we drop our arms and mentally stay connected? What was the actual violation? These were doubts that remained all the way until the end of the day of class. In a medical environment effective communication is at the heart of the best care possible. Through this exercise, we were working to try to understand what that means and how we can better achieve that.
Thanks to all the limbs and brains I worked with Wednesday!
Anna
Comments
Comment by: Lucia Mokres, DVM at November 12, 2007 01:36 PM
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Great comments Anna! To everyone-- As we saw in this exercise today, sometimes (or always?) the Chief needs to be comfortable being assertive when they see a team member doing something wrong. I wish I had been more assertive when I was Chief Resident. Part of training is keeping people on a pretty short leash; the more inexperienced you are the shorter the leash is. That applies to medicine, horseback riding, anything where damage of whatever kind, physical, mental, or in this case, to the process, can be done. It is so important that we recognize what it takes to communicate effectively and to get the job done. One can always be tactful while being assertive, but at some point, as a leader your job is to teach and provide the best patient care possible, and not be afraid of correcting people. As a student or any time you are being mentored, even if you are an attending learning from someone else, you must likewise remember not to take criticism personally but rather remember that without it, the "rules" would be unclear and your frustration will be even greater.