Deliberate Practice, Expertise, & Excellence

February 3, 2010 By scottdm 2 Comments

Later today, I board United flight 908 on my way to workshops scheduled in Holland and Belgium. My routine in the days leading up to an international trip is always the same. I slowly gather together the items I’ll need while away: computer (check); european electric adapter (check); presentation materials (check); clothes (check). And, oh yeah, two decks of playing cards and close up performance mat.

That’s me (pictured above) practicing a “ribbon spread” in my hotel room following a day of training in Marion, Ohio. It’s a basic skill in magic and I’ve been working hard on this (and other moves using cards) since last summer. Along the way, I’ve felt both hopeful and discouraged. But I’ve kept on nonetheless taking heart from what I’m reading about skill acquisition.

Research on expertise indicates that the best performers (in chess, medicine, music, sports, etc.) practice every day of the week (including weekends) for up to four hours a day. Sounds tiring for sure. And yet, the same body of evidence shows that world class performers are able to sustain such high levels of practice because they view the acquisition of expertise as a long-term process. Indeed, in a study of children, researcher Gary McPherson found that the answer to a simple question determined the musical ability of kids a year later: “how long do you think you’ll play your instrument?” The factors that were shown to be irrelevant to performance level were: initial musical ability, IQ, aural sensitivity, math skills, sense of rhythm, income level, and sensorimotor skills.

The type of practice also matters. When researchers Kitsantas and Zimmerman studied the skill acquisition of experts, they found that 90% of the variation in ability could be accounted for by how the performers described their practice; the types of goals they set, how they planned and executed strategies, self-monitored, and adapted their performance in response to feedback.

So, I take my playing cards and close-up mat with me on all of my trips (both domestic and international). I don’t practice on planes. Gave that up after getting some strange stares from fellow passengers as they watched me repeat, in obsessive fashion, the same small segment of my performance over, and over, and over again. It only made matters worse if they found out I was a psychologist. I’d get that “knowing look,” that seemed to say, “Oh yeah.” Anyway, I also managed to lose a fair number of cards when the deck–because of my inept handling while trying to master some particular move–went flying all over the cabin (You can imagine why I’ve been less successful in keeping last year’s New Year resolution to learn to play the ukelele).

Once I’m comfortably situated in my room, the mat and cards come out and I work, practice a specific handling for up to 30 minutes followed by a 15-20 minute break. Believe it or not, learning–or perhaps better said, attempting to learn–magic has really been helpful in understanding the acquisition of expertise in my chosen field: psychology and psychotherapy. Together with my colleagues, we are translating our experience and the latest research on expertise into steps for improving the performance and outcome of behavioral health services. This is, in fact, the focus of the newest workshop I’m teaching, “Achieving Clinical Excellence.” It’s also the organizing theme of the ICCE Achieving Clinical Excellence conference that will be held in Kansas City, Kansas in October 2010. Click on the photo below for more information.

In the meantime, check out the two videos I’ve uploaded to ICCETV featuring two fun magic effects. And yes, of course, feedback is always appreciated!

The Future of Behavioral Health: Integrated Care & Entrepreneurship

February 2, 2010 By scottdm Leave a Comment

Nicholas Cummings, Ph.D.

Sometime in late 1986 I wrote a letter to Dr. Nicholas Cummings. As a then student-member of the American Psychological Association (APA), I was automatically subscribed to and receiving the American Psychologist. In the April issue, Dr. Cummings published an article, provocatively titled, “The Dismantling of Our Health System: Strategies for the Survival of Psychological Practice.” Change was in the air. “Traditional psychology practice is both inefficient and ineffective,” he argued, and a “growing revolution in heath care” was a clear and present danger to the very survival of the field.

What can I say? As someone at the beginning of his career (with large student loans to repay and a long time to go before retirement), the five page article spooked me. So I did what I’d done before: I wrote a letter. I’d been writing and calling prominent researchers and clinicians ever since I was an undergraduate. During the 70’s, I’d exchanged letters and even phone calls with B.F. Skinner!

In all honesty, I didn’t know anything about Dr. Cummings–for example, that he was a former president of the APA, launched the Professional Schools of Psychology movement and founded four campuses of the California School of Professional Psychology, wrote the freedom-of-choice legislation requiring insurers to reimburse non-medical, behavioral health providers, and started American Biodyne in the hopes that psychologists could own rather than be owned–as eventually happened–by managed care (read a history here). Neither did I know that he was a member of Psychology’s famed “Dirty Dozen.” Without a doubt, however, the decision to write him, changed the arc of my career.

Fast forward 25 years, and 86-year-old Nicholas Cummings is at it again–not only sounding a warning klaxon but identifying the opportunities available in the dramatically changing healthcare environment. Sadly, the field (and professional psychology in particular) ignored the counsel he’d given back in 1986. As a result, business interests took over managed care, resulting–just as he predicted–in low wages and the near complete lack of professional autonomy.

So, what can clinicians do now to survive and thrive? According to Dr. Cummings, two words best capture the future of behavioral health: (1) integrated care; and (2) entrepreneurship. Let’s face the unpleasant reality and say it out loud: independent practice is on life support. Agency work is no picnic either given the constant threats to funding and never ending amount of regulation and paperwork. Finally, when it comes to practitioner income, its a buyer’s market.

That said, it’s not all doom and gloom. Far from it. There is a tremendous need (and opportunity) in the present reform-driven healthcare marketplace for clinicians who are able to blend behavioral interventions, medical literacy, knowledge about healthcare delivery systems, and entrepreneurship skills. Possibilities do exist. The real question is, “Do we have the will to change?” Here’s where the power of one simple action–in this instance, a phone call–can have such a profound effect on one’s life and success.

Though we never formally worked together, I’ve been calling and writing Nick off and on for the two and a half decades. Late last fall, my partners and co-creators of the International Center for Clinical Excellence, Brendan Madden and Enda Madden, flew to Reno to seek his advice on our business plan. We simply called him. He said, “When can you get here?” The result? His sage counsel helped us win the InterTrade Seedcorn Regional Prize for “Best Emerging Company” as well as secure investors in the most restrictive venture capital environment since the Great Depression. And that’s not all…

Chief Technology Officer Enda Madden Chief Executive Officer Brendan Madden

Just last week, I flew to Phoenix, Arizona to give a presentation on using outcomes to improve behavioral healthcare service delivery at Arizona State University. Nick was there to meet me, along with the director of an entirely new program for behavioral health entrepreneurs, Dr. Ron O’Donnell. Briefly, the “Doctor of Behavioral Health” is the culmination of Nick’s vision of creating a doctoral training program tailored to the emerging need for innovative behavioral clinicians to practice in primary care and medical settings. Response has been overwhelming to say the least. Fifty plus post-graduate clinicians are enrolled. That’s right, post-graduate. In other words, these are practicing clinicians returning to add “integrated care expert and behavioral health entrepreneur” to their resume.

School of Letters and Sciences

As it turns out, I’ll be traveling from Chicago to Phoenix a fair amount in the future. When he stood to introduce me, Nick announced that I’d be filling the “Cummings Professor of Behavioral Health” faculty position at ASU. The power of a single call.

The Turn to Outcomes: A Revolution in Behavioral Health Practice

February 1, 2010 By scottdm Leave a Comment

Get ready. The revolution is coming (if not already here). Whether you are a direct service provider (psychologist, counselor, marriage and family therapist), agency, broker, or funder, you will be required to measure and likely report the outcomes of your clinical work.

Jay Lebow, Ph.D.

Just this month, Dr. Jay Lebow, a professor of psychology at the Family Institute at Northwestern University, published an article in the Psychotherapy Networker–the most widely circulated publication for practitioners in the world–where he claimed the field had reached a “tipping point.” “Once a matter of interest only among a small circle of academics,” Dr. Lebow writes in his piece entitled, The Big Squeeze, “treatment outcome has now become a part of the national debate about healthcare reform.”

David Barlow, Ph.D.

The same sentiments were expressed in a feature article entitled, “Negative Effects from Psychological Treatments,” written by Dr. David Barlow in the January issue of the American Psychologist. “Therapists,” he argues both eloquently and persuasively, “do not have to wait for the next clinical trial….[rather] clinicians [can act] as local clinical scientists…[using] outcome measures to track progress…rapidly becom[ing] aware of lack of progress or even deterioration” (p. 19). What can I say, except that any practitioner with more than a few years to work before retirement, should read these articles and then forward them to every practitioner they know.

During the Holidays, and just before the turn of the New Year, I blogged about the trend toward outcome measurement. As readers will recall, I talked about my experience on a panel at the Evolution of Psychotherapy conference where Dr. Barlow–who, in response to my brief remarks about the benefits of feedback– suprised me by stating unequivocally that all therapists would soon be required to measure and monitor the outcome of their clinical work. And even though my work has focused almost exclusively on measuring and using outcomes to improve both retention in and the results of behavioral health for the last 15 years, I said his pronouncement frightened me–which, by the way, reminds me of a joke.

A sheep farmer is out in the pasture tending his flock–I promise this is clean, so read on–when from over a small hill comes a man in a custom-tailored, three-piece business suit. In one hand, the businessman holds a calculator; in the other, an expensive, leather brief case. “I have a proposition for you,” the well-clad man says as he approaches the farmer, and then continues, “if I can tell you how many sheep are in your flock, to the exact number, may I have one of your sheep?” Though initially startled by the stranger’s abrupt appearance and offer, the farmer quickly gathers his wits. Knowing there is no way the man could know the actual number of sheep (since many in his flock were out of site in other pastures and several were born just that morning and still in the barn), the farmer quickly responded, “I’ll take that bet!”

Without a moment’s hesitation, the man calls out the correct number, “one thousand, three hundred and forty six,” then quickly adds, “…with the last three born this morning and still resting in the barn!” Dumbfounded, the farmer merely motions toward his flock. In response, the visitor stows his calculator, slings one of the animals up and across his shoulders and then, after retrieving his briefcase, begins making his way back up the hill. Just as he nears the top of the embankment, the farmer finds his voice and calls out, “Sir, I have a counter proposal for you.”

“And what might that be?” the man replies, turning to face the farmer, who then asked, “If I can tell you, sir, what you do for a living, can I have my animal back?”

Always in the mood for a wager, the stranger replies, “I’ll take that bet!” And then without a moment’s hesitation, the sheep farmer says, “You’re an accountant, a bureaucrat, a ‘bean-counter.'” Now, it’s the businessman’s turn to be surprised. “That’s right!” he says, and then asks, “How did you know?”

“Well,” the farmer answers, “because that’s my dog you have around your neck.”

The moral of the story? Bureaucrats can count but they can’t tell the difference between what is and is not important. In my blogpost on December 24th, I expressed concern about the explosion of “official interest” in measuring outcomes. As the two articles mentioned above make clear, the revolution has started. There’s no turning back now. The only question that remains is whether behavioral health providers will be present to steer measurement toward what matters? Here, our track record is less than impressive (remember the 80-90’s and the whole managed care revolution). We had ample warning (and did, well, nothing. If you don’t believe me, click here and read this article from 1986 by Dr. Nick Cummings).

As my colleague and friend Peter Albert is fond of saying, “If you’re not at the table, you’re likely to be on the menu.” So, what can the average clinician do? First of all, if you haven’t already done so, began tracking your outcomes. Right here, on my website, you can download, free, simple-to use, valid and reliable measures. Second, advocate for measures that are feasible, client-friendly, and have a empirical track record of improving retention and outcome. Third, and lastly, join the International Center for Clinical Excellence. Here, clinicians from all over the globe are connecting, learning, and sharing their experiences about how to use ongoing measures of progress and alliance. Most importantly, all are determined to lead the revolution.