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Stress and Coping in Medical Training

There is a saying, “When you want something done, give the task to a busy person.” A busy schedule and a goal-oriented mentality require good organizational skills. Being an organized person entails “wasting” less time between tasks, on useless tasks, on off-task behavior, or on ineffective approaches. There are 2 essential paradigms for multitasking: doing multiple activities simultaneously (this works well when the activities are in nonconflicting domains, such as jogging while listening to a book on tape), and switching back and forth among activities (which is what happens when one engages in multiple same-domain activities, such as composing an e-mail while listening to a lecture). The latter example is just the type of scenario that Shah et al1 explore in their article, “Multitasking Behaviors of Osteopathic Medical Students.” They found some interesting patterns of behavior in students seeking to maximize their effectiveness, particularly as examinations drew near. One can imagine that in a 50-minute lecture there may be several minutes of “down time.” Perhaps a professor glances down at her notes to collect her thoughts or takes a moment to draw a diagram. According to the article, today’s multitasking generation would be well practiced at using these moments to check e-mails, sports scores, or send a text. Or students may be likewise engaged during the flow of a lecture if they assume to know the material yet to be elucidated. In these brief moments of switching focus, something important happens. The listener-e-mailer-textershopper misses out on the continued pondering and deep processing of the information as it is presented and discussed. Shah et al1 collected data on the amount and type of multitasking students engage in during lectures and also the subsequent grasp of lecture material on a postlecture quiz. The authors showed how common it is for students to perform these other tasks during academic lectures. However, they do not report the degree to Stress and Coping in Medical Training