Nudge Theory
"I feel like my entire career was repeating, "Eat less and exercise more." PCP at retirement.
In 2015 we modified a staircase.
We are on the second floor and before you get to the stairs, you need to walk by the elevator.
As an experiment, we moved the sign just past the elevator and placed it at the bottom of the staircase with a sign:
Please Enjoy the Stairs!
The elevator is used less than 4 time a week! As of January 2024, our patients have stepped up 630,000 steps.
The smallest change with enormous impact. It seems almost silly, moving a sign 15' with a little encouragement or 'nudge'*. The not initially obvious reason it works; the sign is not clearly legible from the elevator, but the logo is. Only after taking a few more steps past the elevator is it clear, "Please Enjoy the Stairs" with a list of physicians.
It has become a source of pride with some of our patient, "Please tell Dr. Kassay 'I didn't enjoy the stairs' but I did walk up them today!
Together over the last 6 years we have burned a collective 200 pounds!
*Nudge Theory - Richard Thaylor won a Nobel Prize in Economics and we are huge Behavioral Economic fans.
I truly believe that these opportunities exist in every facet of what we do.
How many doctors have retired and said,
"I feel like my entire career was repeating, "Eat less and exercise more."
Maybe there was a more effective method to communicate? Sometimes, the quickest way to ensure something won’t be done is to tell someone directly to do it. Creating an environment with a gentle suggestion or creating a story line a person can mentally follow to their own conclusion is difficult. It takes work on the front end, but the outcome reward is an effortless effectiveness.
