Use hand cleaning to prompt mindfulness in clinic

In the frenzied environment of clinical practice, we often don’t notice what we’re doing until a problem arises. Shuttling between patients and tasks may feel overwhelming. When we’re hurried it’s easy to lose focus on the task at hand and to become distracted. When we’re not fully engaged in the experience of each step in our day, we may blindly react to events instead of noticing what is occurring and then responding with a focused approach.

The act of cleaning hands, a simple yet important task practiced throughout the day, could serve to prompt a time of mindfulness to bring a clinician’s awareness back to the present and allow for moments of clarity, insight, and reflection during a work day.