Distraction-Free Discipline for Staying in the Zone in Radiology

Long before I got anywhere near the radiology field, I was a writer. Between that and a lot of pleasure reading during my upbringing, I was familiar with the notion of an author’s “voice.” It was no surprise at all when, seeing the volumes of verbiage rads report on a daily basis, I learned that they had their characteristic voices as well.

That is handy in a number of ways. One of the biggest is that, if I have been working in a venue for a while, I have a sense of who is behind a radiology report I am reading before I see the signature. I might be familiar with how they think and their areas of particular expertise.

On rare occasion, I have encountered other rads whose voices were strikingly similar to my own to the point that I have momentarily thought: Hey, did I read this prior? That can be a little surreal.

When I do get a case that follows on one I previously read, it is a happy coincidence. Even if it has been months, seeing my previous read revives my memory and makes it that much easier to follow my own work.

Sometimes, the experience is even more surreal … because I see something I said and question whether it really sounds like me. Usually, it is not in a bad way (except when I find out, way after the fact, that voice recognition made me sound like a dolt). Rather, these little moments are ego gratifying because my past self seems to perform better than I would trust current me to do.

That can be just because of my turn of phrase. The words sound smarter than I am. Alternatively, I look at the old images before reviewing how I reported them, and I see an abnormality one could easily miss. For a scary moment, I fret about whether I caught it but then I see that I did. Whew!

At such times, it’s as if I have a smarter twin who took my place at the workstation. I have found myself thinking of him, as Dr. Banner would put it, as “the other guy.” Fortunately for me, my other isn’t a hulking green rage beast most of the time. Some referrers and techs who have tested me might claim to contrary.

While I have never taken this to be a warning sign of my mental decomposition, the thought has occurred: If I am intermittently regarding work I did months or years ago as superior to what I am capable of now, might it be a sign that my skills are degrading? Fortunately, I have a happier theory which I will share below. If I was becoming less of a rad in the fullness of time, I suspect I would hear about it via QA.

The more reassuring theory involves something that has been nicknamed “moving” (often “walking”) meditation. I have referenced it in this blog when talking about my distance running and have even experienced it when it is a weight-lifting day rather than time for cardio. You can easily find better descriptions of it online than I will possibly offer here.

I didn’t set out to practice any such discipline. It just sort of happened. I would notice that, somehow, a mile of my distance had gone by without my being able to recall any particular thoughts that had crossed my mind while I ran those paces. Alternately, I would suddenly realize that I had lost track of how many sets (not reps) of dips, pull-ups, etc., I had done in the past few minutes.

In other words, the part of me that was needed to get the job done was on the task and the rest of my mind just got out of the way. One can imagine that without it providing intrusive thoughts (“What shall I have for dinner tonight?” “I am bored doing this. Maybe I can quit early?”), the rest of me has a better chance of peak performance.

From that perspective, when I am “the other guy” at my workstation, it might be said that I am closer to my pure radiologist self. A bunch of other distractions and mortal frailties aren’t getting in the way of doing what I am supposed to do. I am “in the zone.”

Once upon a time, when I was new to the per-click game and not yet convinced that it had been a financially smart move from a safer salaried job, I would have regarded my zone-ness, for lack of a better word, in terms of how many RVUs I was generating per hour. I like it better now that I can see the other guy is upping my radiology game rather than just my bank account.

To make the most of this situation (and to share if anybody else would like to replicate it), I have tried to identify what makes it happen. It is not the easiest thing to pinpoint when I notice it, months after the fact, but I figure the same thing is happening when I glance at the clock and notice that a chunk of time (and work) has flown by similar to my exercise sessions.

Here are some things that make that happen more reliably.

• Good physical factors. If I slept sufficiently the night before and have been eating/hydrating properly, it definitely helps. By proper eating, I don’t just mean quantity but quality. A dinner of fried junk or pizza won’t make me a superstar in the next 24 hours. I also function better when I got some good physical activity in the day before. Lapses in my exercise regimen are detractors.

• Minimized distractions. This probably goes without saying but if you have got an excess of people around, especially if they’re trying to interact with you, the other guy won’t come out to play. He also doesn’t do well with ringing phones, incoming emails or pings from text messages. Suppress the urge to check on news stories or social media. Tey can almost always wait. If something simply can’t, get it done before work or during a scheduled break like lunch.

• Music. Your mileage may vary but I found that listening to music (for instance on headphones while using a separate dictation mic that won’t hear the tunes) can take the distractable part of my mind aside while the radiology part does its thing. It works best if the music is something I know very well. It won’t engage my thought processes and make me actively try to listen to lyrics, etc.