#32 – Harnessing the power of deliberate practice

This podcast discusses deliberate practice, a concept developed by renowned cognitive psychologist Anders Ericsson, PhD. Deliberate practice is the kind of practice that top performers employ in order to reach the very highest levels of excellence across domains. Ericsson studied countless musicians, athletes, dancers, chess players, medical professionals and others to uncover the secrets and power of deliberate practice. Malcolm Gladwell popularized some of Ericsson’s work in his 2008 book, Outliers, as the 10,000-hour rule to expertise, stating that on average, it takes about 10,000 hours to develop as an expert. But it’s not as easy as that. It’s not that simple. It’s not just about being on the job for 10,000 hours. And you know what I’m talking about. You’ve worked with people who are very experienced yet not the best – not even great – perhaps even mediocre, at their jobs. What Ericsson saw is that it takes top performers around 10,000 hours of deliberate practice – a concentrated, effortful, focused kind of practice, with feedback from a coach, to achieve the top level in any field. Check out the podcast and links in the show notes for a quick break down and some examples of how to harness deliberate practice to improve your anesthesia career. Resources: Ericsson, K. A. (2008). Deliberate practice and acquisition of expert performance: a general overview. Academic emergency medicine, 15(11), 988-994. Ericsson, K. A. (2004). Deliberate practice and the acquisition and maintenance of expert performance in medicine and related domains. Academic medicine, 79(10), S70-S81. Ericsson, K. A. (2015). Acquisition and Maintenance of Medical Expertise: A Perspective From the Expert – Performance Approach With Deliberate Practice. Academic Medicine, 90(11), 1471. doi:10.1097/ACM.0000000000000939 Ericsson, A., & Pool, R. (2016). Peak: Secrets from the new science of expertise. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Weinger, M. B., Banerjee, A., Burden, A. R., McIvor, W. R., Boulet, J., Cooper, J. B., … & Torsher, L. (2017). Simulation-based assessment of the management of critical events by board-certified anesthesiologists. Anesthesiology: The Journal of the American Society of Anesthesiologists, 127(3), 475-489.   Young, J. 5 May 2020. Researcher Behind ‘10,000-Hour Rule’ Says Good Teaching Matters, Not Just Practice. (podcast). EdSurg Podcast.  Retrieved from https://www.edsurge.com/news/2020-05-05-researcher-behind-10-000-hour-rule-says-good-teaching-matters-not-just-practice.