Abstract
2058
Introduction: As is true in many fields of medicine, there are often multiple solutions to any given problem within nuclear medicine and even more ways to approach the problem. The way one approaches the issue is determined by a host of factors, including the knowledge and experience of the team as well as resources available. In addition, the personality of a physician can affect the decision-making process. One that is naturally optimistic could disregard potential downsides to a decision and one that is risk averse could conceivably miss a beneficial solution. “Six Thinking Hats”, a book written by Maltese psychiatrist Dr. Edward de Bono, explores this decision-making process and the idea of parallel thinking in order to help groups approach problems and come up with the best possible solution. This method utilizes six distinct approaches to critical thinking termed ‘six thinking caps’, which can be used to challenge the decision-making process and make one approach an issue from different directions. The six different methods are: facts, positivity, judgment, feelings, creativity, and analysis, as detailed in the image below. These methods can be used in numerous different orders to achieve different goals. It has also been documented that the nuclear medicine department can be underutilized, whether due to lack of resources or incomplete lack of understanding/knowledge of what the field has to offer. The underutilization of this field can result in delayed diagnoses and treatments and in turn result in worse patient outcomes.
Methods: Within Dr. de Bono’s “Six Thinking Hats” book, he lays out multiple frameworks and hat sequences for best approaching different types of issues.
These hate sequences can be used to bring structure to the decision-making process when using different imaging modalities offered by nuclear medicine departments and help physicians determine the best approach, work-up, or treatment for any patient.
Results: Nuclear medicine plays an important role in the diagnosis and treatment of many patients in both the inpatient and outpatient setting. Utilizing the “Six Thinking Hats” approach can help any type of physician successfully utilize the nuclear medicine department to help achieve better patient outcomes.
Conclusions: The nuclear medicine department provides important clinical information since it evaluates anatomic and functional findings for a variety of conditions and organ systems. However, in certain clinical settings the nuclear medicine department may be underutilized for a multitude of factors. The utilization of the “Six Thinking Hats'' approach as laid out by Dr. Edward de Bono can assist medical providers in determining the best way to utilize the nuclear medicine department and in turn could potentially help providers use nuclear medicine more in the future.