Never Mistake Activity for Achievement

When I was a skinny, scared 17-year-old UCLA freshman, the first professor with whom I shook hands was the legendary basketball coach John Wooden. In those days, students who had received academic scholarships met Coach Wooden to receive a lecture on his Pyramid of Success. Wooden defined success as the peace of mind which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you did your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming.

Coach Wooden’s lessons, often expressed in proverbs, still resonate with me every day. One of my favorites is, "Don't mistake activity for achievement." It is a reminder to focus on tasks that are well-organized, properly executed, and aligned with goals. When we see great athletes and musicians performing seemingly impossible feats with grace, we say, “They make it look easy.” In fact, what we are subconsciously noticing is the complete absence of extraneous motion; every action is purposeful.

What does this have to do with radiology? To be effective in radiology, we must avoid distractions that take us away from a cognitive state of flow. To “stay in the zone,” where endorphins flow and attention is heightened, one must work with instruments that eliminate all error-prone and laborious redundancies, where attention to the task at hand doesn’t waver. A cascade of tightly aligned processes must promote the achievement of a clear, concise report with evidence-based recommendations:

• Automated assignment of the proper exam to the right reader.

• Intelligent pre-manufacture of the report using input from the patient history, technologist, ordering data, the imaging modality, and AI.

• Purposeful display of images and relevant priors in a manner that radically reduces head, eye, and hand movements.

• Seamless handling of interruptions, Q/A, Peer Review, and Critical Results reporting.

• Fast system performance with high reliability.

With these attributes, systems can promote the desired achievement with limited motion.