29/11/2024
Despite the fact that I know that my neatly laid out instruments are not going to stay that way, I still plan for and visualise a good positive outcome. 😎
Numerous studies have demonstrated the power of visualisation. They found that imagining the movements and actions almost trains the muscles as much as the actual movement itself.
Visualisation has been used in human healthcare professionals to reduce stress. They found that novice surgeons who received imagery training and visualise what they are going to do demonstrated reduced self-reported stress and decreased objective stress.
Planning and visualising what you are going to do is a powerful tool that you can use when you have seen something before, or understand how to do things and can imagine how you would do it despite not having done it before. This is not to say that you can take huge leaps and do brain surgery but you can use this technique to jump up to the next step or level and feel more prepared to step out of your comfort zone.
Also like all well laid out plans and visualised successes … it does not mean that everything will go as you planned or visualised it will however help you feel more prepared, more confident and less nervous tackling something you have never done before.
As I am scrubbing I visualise the surgery, from draping, cutting, exploring, exteriorising, isolating, removing, closing, lavaging and then to closing the abdomen. Sometimes if I am concerned I visualise what I am going to do if something goes wrong. Like a large contamination of the abdomen with gastrointestinal contents, like dropping a ovarian pedicle or a large bleed while removing a spleen. Either way I use it to visualise the process to success and sometime visualise what I would do if something goes wrong.
There is only so much training and learning that you can do, there is only so much mentoring and support your can have before you need to take action and give it a go yourself. One the biggest advantages of visualisation is that you can literally do it everywhere – on the train, at home, at work.
