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PubMed · 10135586

Tutorial: directed creativity.

P E Plsek
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Abstract

While we recognize the need for creative approaches to nagging problems and new opportunities, generating practical new ideas is often a challenge. Many people have convinced themselves that they are simply not creative thinkers; they can only marvel at those who seem to possess "the gift." However, research over the last few decades in the field of cognitive science has indicated that the capacity for creative thought is a basic mental ability that we all possess. We will review these new theories about creativity and discuss actions that we can take to direct our thoughts towards novel ends.

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CreativityHumansModels, PsychologicalOrganizational InnovationProblem SolvingProcess Assessment, Health CareStaff DevelopmentUnited StatesJournal ArticleReview

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P E Plsek. 1994. Tutorial: directed creativity.. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10135586/

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Innovative thinking for the improvement of medical systems.

If health care systems are not delivering the desired results, those systems must be changed in some way. Innovative thinking is sometimes needed to generate ideas for improvement. Many persons erroneously believe that innovative thinking is a special gift or that it requires an air of lightheartedness that seems inappropriate in a health care setting. Current research in the cognitive sciences has yielded methods to help individual persons and groups generate innovative ideas. These methods do not require any special gift and can be practiced in a serious way. Through a case example from a health maintenance organization, this paper shows that, given some direction, groups of health care professionals can produce useful and innovative ideas. The tools of idea generation are based on three principles: mental attention, escape, and movement. Activities that help persons pay attention to their current situations in a different way, escape their current mental patterns about the situation, and maintain movement in their thoughts support efforts to generate innovative, testable ideas for health system improvements. This paper illustrates several methods of stimulating innovative thinking and shows the ways in which they can be applied in health care.

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