AB108. The role of sport in a medical career: a narrative review

Background: The worlds of healthcare and sport are similar in many respects: both are bustling domains rife with distraction where an individual must rely on their own self-efficacy to make split-second decisions; the sum of which eventually determine an end result which effects beyond the individual themselves. Thus, the realm of sport provides clinicians with many opportunities. On a simple level; sport is an avenue to promote the doctors’ own mental and physiological health. The discussion of sport is a tool to build rapport with patients. Sporting metaphors are understood by patients and their families regarding important theories which can be difficult to impart, such as; resilience. However, many more complex sports concepts could also be applied to a doctor’s medical career. The multidisciplinary environment which we inhabit can be seen as a team sport, and consequently sports psychologies can be applied to both the team and its individual components. Mentors have been shown to be instrumental in both fields, perhaps exemplified by the dynastical nature of both sports and medicine. The diligence required to hone a skill in sport, can be likened to that of learning medical procedures with similar attributes required; such as spatial awareness, dexterity and expert timing.

Methods: The aim of this research is to enhance our understanding of the role of sports, its metaphors, psychology and physiology in the forging of a medical career by reviewing existing clinical and empirical work. A narrative review was performed by interrogating electronic databases with a considered search strategy: a systematic approach to a narrative review. Studies were selected for review based on specific inclusion criteria.

Results: This review will discuss the literature concerned with sports and its association with medicine in relation to metaphors, skill acquisition, psychology, physiology, approaching healthcare as a team, and applying sports strategies such as injury prevention and mentorship to optimise performance in a clinical setting.

Conclusions: It is imperative that healthcare practitioners develop an understanding of; avenues by which sports concepts and careers can be taken advantage of by doctors, how multidisciplinary teams work in a similar fashion to sports teams and ways this can be exploited, and concepts in sports psychology which can be applied to the clinical work environment.

Keywords: Doctors’ health; metaphors; sports psychology; skill acquisition; team work