How 2 Train Heroes?

This month, we applied the Attitude cornerstone of Coach Wooden's Pyramid of Success to EM by asking our trainees to reconnect with their core mission, recognize the need for purposeful recovery , and create a brotherhood in the trench. The good days happen when I practice these ideas, the bad days occur when I do not. Oftentimes, my bad days occur when I do a "right" thing at the wrong time. I become task distracted. During my Wednesday shift, I took 10 minutes for lunch at noon and checked email. An important conference was stuck. So I made a call and whipped off a couple of careful emails. Bam - problem solved. 30 minutes later I realize I had been disconnected from what really matters for 30 minutes. When I finally refocused, I was frustrated with myself, causing my attitude towards everyone to suffer. Even worse, I do this too often at home with my wife and kids too. My best Peds EM coach was Dr. Adams. She always taught me to overcome EM task distraction by just...

In this series, we are discussing how legendary basketball Coach John Wooden's Pyramid of Success may be applied to medical education today. We begin with the acknowledgement that all clinicians only practice medicine. Together, as clinicians and patients, we are always each other's coaches and trainees. The first cornerstone of Coach's pyramid is creating a winning attitude. We started this series by reminding ourselves that our attitude must originate from our fundamental mission to help others. Last week, we asked our trainees "How's life?" in an effort to help create an awareness of the importance of attitude, and the need for recovery from the daily challenges of medicine. Each time I asked this simple question, I was surprised by the genuine smile that I was given in response. And when I was "too busy" with the nonsense and noise, I missed an opportunity to build a relationship, emphasize the importance of attitude, and set the stage for late...

Stressed out? Over Worked? At Your Breaking Point? Perhaps, the problem is not just your stress level, but more importantly how your perceive stress. In this fascinating TED Talk, Kelly McGonigal describes How to Make Stress Your Friend!  The friendship begins with examining how we perceive stress. When we view stress as a helpful physiologic response to life's challenges, our response to stress mirrors our bodies healthy response to exercise, joy, and courageous moments. But Kelly does not stop there, she gives another gift by revealing that stress actually "makes us social" by increasing the release of the "hugging hormone" oxytocin that helps make our response to stress even more healthy. In fact, being empathetic and supportive further increases our oxytocin levels, creating life's ultimate Win-Win. So in Kelly's own concluding words, "Go after what creates meaning in your life, and trust yourself to handle the stress that follows."

We only practice medicine. We are each other's coaches and trainees. The attending and his resident. The nurse and nursing student. The fourth year and the third year. The Paramedic and the EMT-B. The patient as both coach and trainee for all. An attitude of Enthusiasm is the first cornerstone of Coach Wooden's Pyramid of Success. We know a positive attitude must originate from our core values as clinicians. Last week we asked our trainees to examine their attitude in relation to the day's successes and failures. I again realized that my own "All In" attitude improves with success, and helps create success. Unfortunately, we all know the opposite is true as well. In my failures this week, my attitude plummeted, and even sabotaged my own success. Typically, enthusiasm drops as the week marches on patient after patient, shift after shift, and meeting after meeting. Although attitude must originate with our core values, sustaining this attitude relies on bein...