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At SOGC CME. Dr Paul Mohapel “multitasking on computers triggers stress response, activating cortisol & is harmful to attention, memory & learning”. Decrease equivalent to a decrease in IQ”. Makes women, in particular, more sensitive to burnout. #CMEondemand
Long thread.
MDs spent 21% of day before computer intrusion multi-tasking. We have added increasing multitasking with our devices. Multitasking increases stress & lack of awareness of how stressed it makes us. A thread. 2/18 @SOGCorg @OntarioObgyns @OntariosDoctors @WomenOMA
MDs spent 21% of day before computer intrusion multi-tasking. We have added increasing multitasking with our devices. Multitasking increases stress & lack of awareness of how stressed it makes us. A thread. 2/18 @SOGCorg @OntarioObgyns @OntariosDoctors @WomenOMA
More emails, higher stress, lower productivity, reducing engagement. Addictive potential. Compulsion, loss of control, loss of pleasure, increases anxiety & irritability. 3/
Phones intensify this reaction. CDNs amongst the most connected to their phones of all nations. Visual, auditory & tactile cues, immediate gratification, social reinforcement (eg SoMe). /4
“Distracted doctoring” 54% of the time. Associated with >>burnout. Executive functioning decreases during the day, draining brain energy return. Email is the greatest tasker of our brain reserves. Diminishes the activity of our frontal cortex. 5/
Cures - containment and sustainment. If Email checked more than 4 times a day, stress levels, cortisol, BP & HR increase. Greater number of apps open, more stress. 6/
If you don’t respond to emails immediately, the lower volume of emails that you get. Screen breaks for 13 minutes per hr sustains cognitive productivity. Takes 4h if awake time, of abstaining from screens to recover. 7/
Over age 40, 25 h/wk has the most cognitive function. 3D work week improves productivity and focus. >40h per week decreases cognitive function. Hmm, which do OB-GYNs do? The more we do, the less we can appreciate the effect on our cognitive function. 8/
Mindfulness decreases stress & anxiety, benefits emotional regulation, learning & memory. Decreases burnout, anxiety, less brain atrophy. 9/
Pets can be an emotional stress reliever, because they cause us to focus attention on something outside ourselves and our devices. 10/
Incredible engagement on Dr. Mohapel’s talk on Digital Distraction. As OB-GYNS we are at higher risk of distraction due to our clinical and emergent stress. Even the best designed EMR is poorly designed and does not add to our natural work-flow. 11/
EMRs should adapt to the work of doctors, instead of forcing us to conform to them. I never thought that I would spend the last part of my practice life doing the things that I used to pay a secretary & MOA to do. 12/
Consider all the tasks that have been downloaded to MDs. We have turned hands-on clinicians into unthinking zombies who pay more attention to the computer and less attention to our patients. We have allowed them to fill our entire day with “busy work”. 13/
It is an unrelenting task-master that we have allowed to fill our entire days & nights. That decreases our social interactions, increases our stress and burnout, making us less effective & more distracted. 14/
Is it any wonder that there seems to be an explosion of Adult-onset ADHD. It is the trifecta of overwork, exhaustion and distraction making us susceptible to the addictive nature of digital devices. 15/
I say this as a doc who has been an early adopter of computers, in 1981. I was using a computer through the 80s, connecting via bulletin boards with colleagues in the 90s, & SoMe in 2003. Monitoring and protecting my children’s on-line activity was the initial motivation. 16/
I have been waiting for 20 yrs for colleagues to understand the ability to connect on SoMe. It allows us to meet colleagues virtually, & so necessary during the pandemic shift to more on-line work. It has been both an antidote to the isolation that we all feel, & a curse. 17/
Thank you Dr. Paul Mohapel for a stimulating and engaging session! I am cognizant of the irony and dissonance this creates. I think I need to pet my cat and meditate now. 
#CMEondemand @OntarioObgyns @SOGCorg @WomenOMA @OntariosDoctors 18/
#CMEondemand @OntarioObgyns @SOGCorg @WomenOMA @OntariosDoctors 18/
