Our “Fast Pathway” plays an important role when there is an imminent threat and quick decisions need to be made.
However, in times of prolonged stress, such as patients and families facing serious illness, the “Fast Pathway” can become the dominant thought process and prevent people from analyzing complex information or thinking critically.
Effective decision making utilizes both our emotional and cognitive processing.
During a serious illness conversation, your job is to be on the lookout for emotion cues that indicate an overactive “Fast Pathway.”
Once you recognize the emotion cue you can then slow down the “Fast Pathway” by responding to the emotion.
Your goal is to help the fast and slow pathways work collaboratively together to help your patients and their families make the best possible decision for a given situation.
© 2016 University of Washington | School of Nursing | L&IT Learning Technologies | Palliative Care Training Center.
Caroline Hurd, MD,
Lindsay Gibbon, MD,
Anthony Back, MD
