What is “flow?” How does it relate to physician engagement?

What is “flow?” How does it relate to physician engagement?

If you do not know Dr. Harjot Singh (https://www.harjotsinghmd.com/?), you need to get to know him. He is an incredible physician leader with great insight into so many different things about physicians. He frequently posts great thoughts on LinkedIn and I was fortunate to get him to write a chapter in my physician engagement books. Among many great thoughts in this chapter, he provided these points:

·??????Engagement at an individual level has been studied for nearly five decades. The one field that has contributed the most to this study is positive psychology. Most of the early empirical studies in the mental state of engagement were conducted by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, who popularized the concept of flow. In his years of research into creativity and productivity as well as his interviews with people who were successful in a wide range of professions, he discovered that the secret to their optimal performance was their ability to enter a state he called flow. Flow is so named because during these interviews, several people described their “flow” experiences using the metaphor of a water current carrying them along (Csikszentmihalyi 1975).

·??????Csikszentmihalyi defines flow as “being completely involved in an activity for its own sake. The ego falls away. Time flies. Every action, movement, and thought follows inevitably from the previous one, like playing jazz. Your whole being is involved, and you’re using your skills to the utmost” (Geirland 2017). Flow, characterized by complete absorption in what one is doing, results in a loss of sense of space and time.

·??????Engagement is a two-way street—it cannot exist effectively without both parties’ understanding the other’s experience

Harjot drills down in his chapter and states, “Engagement is an individualized and personal experience, especially for physicians. Each physician is a separate human being who has spent years accomplishing some of the most demanding physical and intellectual tasks to get to this level of expertise. Engaging physicians undeniably improves an organization’s bottom line by boosting productivity, reducing turnover, improving patient outcomes, improving patient satisfaction ratings, reducing violence in the workplace, reducing medical errors and litigation, and lowering burnout.”

·??????An effective engagement plan takes time—time for physicians to trust the goodwill of both the leader and the organization and time for physicians to share their pains and observe what leaders do with that information. There are no shortcuts. The most energy, effort, and perseverance are needed up front, when doubt is high and trust is low

Below of some of Harjot’s thoughts on flow:

Blend of Action and Awareness?- During flow, there is a merging of action and awareness

Clear Goals and Feedback -?People experience flow when they are given clear and immediate feedback.

Concentration on the Task at Hand - When the mind is engaged, it requires complete focus that leaves no room for irrelevant information.

Heightened Sense of Control -?As a practitioner’s skill set grows, the person develops a sense of mastery of it.

Loss of Awareness of Self - Typically, people spend a great deal of time thinking about themselves. It is human nature. This preoccupation with the self absorbs much of a person’s time and energy, especially when an individual perceives a social or physical threat to the self. As mentioned, flow invokes an intense focus, allowing the rest of the world to disappear from awareness.

A Changing Sense of Time - Subjectively, people sense the passage of time in different ways. While seeing patients and helping them get better is not necessarily autotelic, doing so because one enjoys seeing them and interacting with them can be. During such an experience, the physician is focused on the activity for its own sake and not on its consequences.

See Harjot’s website for much more - https://www.harjotsinghmd.com/?

And read more of Harjot’s chapter as you consider these physician engagement books. Many organizations have started to use them in discussion groups with physicians or as course content / curriculum for their physician leaders.

These two Health Administration Press engagement books have 24 physicians who contributed different chapters ranging from

?·??????What is physician engagement

·??????Various tactics to enhance physician engagement

·??????Engagement vs. alignment

·??????Diversity and inclusion and impact on engagement

·??????Conflict resolution

·??????Physician burnout and its impact on physician engagement

·??????Economic factors that affect engagement – is it all about money?

·??????Assessing physicians for leadership positions

·??????Developing dyad, triad, and quad organization structures

·??????Creating physician leadership development programs

·??????Measuring physician engagement success

Enhanced Physician Engagement, Volume 1: What It Is, Why You Need It, and Where to Begin https://www.ache.org/learning-center/publications/books/2440I

Enhanced Physician Engagement, Volume 2: Tools and Tactics for Success https://www.ache.org/learning-center/publications/books/2441I

Next physician engagement newsletter in 2 weeks. See you then! Restful Memorial Day!