Cognitive Aids: What you need to know?
September 04, 2019
Working
as a medical facility provider is not an easy task. It requires
precision and following is the right protocol to provide the necessary
medical aid. Well, there are many things which help in this process and
one such support are the cognitive aids. These are the tools which
reduce the load on working memory.
Some of the Common Cognitive Aids used in Medical Facilities are as follows:
- Checklist
- Algorithm
- Flowchart
- Mnemonic
Medical
help and assistance require the person to be on their toes round the
clock; in such conditions, it becomes obvious that the person can face
any of the following issues:
- Stress
- Workload
- Time pressure
- Fatigue
With
the help of the right assistance, you can easily overcome these
problems. The objective of these aids is to assist the medical
facilities or doctor or nurse and let them know what the right step in a
particular emergency is.
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| Cognitive Aids |
With the Help of Cognitive Aids, we can:
- Reduce error
- Enhance better judgment
- Increased proficient
- Following the protocol
Why do Medical Facilities need Cognitive Aids?
As
we have discussed before medical emergencies are uninvited, so it
leaves us with very little time to prepare, and at the same time, it
demands them to take the right decision at the right time. With the help
of right cognitive tools, we can overcome the stress that these
situations may otherwise create and thereby help in rendering quick and
right help.
How do Cognitive Aids prove to be helpful?
We
have mentioned that these aids find perfect fitment in the medical
emergency. In such cases, checklist and algorithms can be beneficial.
- Handy checklist: The checklist consists of different actions which cannot be readily recalled, or it consists of a task’s sequence helping the medical aid provider to follow the right protocol in case of emergency. In simple words, we can say that these are helpful in enhancing the performance of an individual. You can say that these are highly helpful in under-pressure condition, ensuring that you don’t miss out any of the processes — for example, pre-operative checklist, medicine administration checklist, post-surgery checklist. One can have a quick snap at the checklist, flowchart, or algorithm, thereby helping the medical professionals to provide the right assistance. However, some medical professionals find it cumbersome to look through several papers for the right protocol, but in case of emergencies or high-pressure condition, these aids come as a handy tool to render the right medical support. This is particularly beneficial for the ones who have newly entered this field and are still in a learning phase.
- Preventing errors: It is an undeniable fact that the tasks performed by the health system and human are prone to errors, which can sometimes prove fatal for the patient’s life. Following the correct actions will ensure that the probability of errors is reduced. There has been evidence which proves that the use of cognitive aids in medicine has a staggering impact in reducing morbidity, thus proving to be helpful.
- Tackling stress:
This is yet another important aspect where these aids come helpful. We
all know that migraines can be stressful, which can lead to the rise of
stress hormones, which impacts cognition and behavior of the person. In
such a situation, there is a tendency for the person to forget the right
protocol. Having this checklist handy can help recollect the right
modus Operandi, thus reducing the probability of any error.
We can say that cognitive aids are helpful tools that implicate the right steps and call of action, thereby helping the medical facilities and the patients alike.
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