Be Fully Present

Have you been in an exam room, talking to a patient, but not really paying attention to what the patient was saying? You were thinking about the other patient you saw earlier, trying to remember something you forgot to jot down. You were thinking about how behind schedule you were. You were thinking about when your day would end. Or you were wondering who texted you. Who sent the email and triggered the alert sound.

For every additional thought you have, you are less present with your patient. You may miss things like a new heart murmur, a swollen finger, or a subtle facial droop. You probably will have a less meaningful conversation with your patient. Most of the time, patients can sense that you are distracted.

As much as we want to believe it, in real life, it is almost impossible to multi-task. Our mind is designed to think and focus on one thing at a time. If there is something else on our mind, we actually switch our focus from one thing to another. If there are five different things you are thinking about, you are switching your brain cells five different times. The constant switching back and forth drains our energy. At the end of the day, you are likely to suffer from some degree of mind exhaustion.

The best solution to minimize mind exhaustion is to focus on one thing at a time. I decide ahead of time to pay full attention to each patient during the encounter. When I see patients in the clinic, I start with sitting down, position myself in front of the computer and face the patient. As the patient is telling me any pertinent history, I type in the electronic patient chart, while doing my best to keep eye contact. I choose to pay undivided attention to the patient during the encounter. I usually have most of the charting done by the time I finish seeing the patient. Other than being mindful of the time, I do my very best to keep my mind from wandering.

The longer we can focus on one thing before redirecting our focus on something else, the less switching in our brain we have to do.

Being fully present also decreases the chance of missing something, such as in the physical findings or possible differential diagnoses. You are likely leading with a more crystal clear mind to generate differential diagnoses and treatment plans.

To be fully present to experience the moment, one thing at a time. It makes the day more focused. We are conserving more brain power by limiting the switch flipping of the brain cells. We can also experience our emotions better. We get to identify our priorities rather than having a scattered brain pattern with signals firing in different directions.