Does Your Practice have Unhelpful Beliefs?

I recently came across the concept of unhelpful beliefs. The beliefs we form, based not on evidence, but what we fear or wrongly think.

They may come from the flawed belief of a leader but if allowed they can negatively impact the practice. ‘Patients won’t want to see Practice Paramedics, they’ll create work and complaints’, and ‘the elderly won’t use online services’, might be examples.

Where unhelpful beliefs exist it’s best to challenge them:

What are your biggest challenges?

First look at what your practice is really struggling with, is it meeting demand due to a lack of GP’s, or a lack of space in the Practice?

What are the beliefs behind them?

Identify the beliefs that are preventing you overcoming them. Is it ‘patients have to be seen by GP’s’, or ‘everyone has to work from the practice’. Imagine the change if the belief didn’t exist.

Is there any evidence to prove or disprove your belief?

Without proof it’s a personal opinion, which can be wrong. Beliefs should be based on personal experiences or expert opinion. If there is no proof, then on balance your belief is probably illogical and is unhelpful.

See if your beliefs are helping or hindering. If they’re holding you back then you need to form new, positive beliefs.