International Journal of Medical Informatics
Volume 79, Issue 6 , Pages e109-e115 , June 2010

The roles of MDs and RNs as initiators and recipients of interruptions in workflow

  • Juliana J. Brixey

      Affiliations

    • University of Kansas School of Nursing, Kansas City, KS, USA
    • University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX, USA
    • Corresponding Author InformationCorresponding author at: 3901 Rainbow Boulevard, Mail Stop 4043 Kansas City, KS 66160, USA. Tel.: +1 913 588 1671; fax: +1 913 588 1660.
  • ,
  • David J. Robinson

      Affiliations

    • University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX, USA
    • Memorial-Hermann Hospital, Houston, TX, USA
  • ,
  • James P. Turley

      Affiliations

    • University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX, USA
  • ,
  • Jiajie Zhang

      Affiliations

    • University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX, USA

Received 25 October 2007 ,Revised 7 July 2008 ,Accepted 18 August 2008.

References 

  1. Brixey JJ, et al. A concept analysis of the phenomenon interruption. Advances in Nursing Science. 2007;30(1):E26–E42
  2. Coiera E. Clinical communication—a new informatics paradigm. In: Proceedings of the American Medical Informatics Association Autumn Symposium. 1996;
  3. Coiera E, Tombs V. Communication behaviours in a hospital setting: an observational study. BMJ. 1998;316(7132):673–676
  4. Coiera EW, et al. Communication loads on clinical staff in the emergency department. MJA. 2002;176(9):415–418
  5. Chisholm C, et al. Work interrupted: a comparison of workplace interruptions in emergency departments and primary care offices. Annals of Emergency Medicine. 2001;38(2):146–151
  6. Chisholm CD, et al. Emergency department workplace interruptions: are emergency physicians “interrupt-driven” and “multitasking”?. Academic Emergency Medicine. 2000;7(11):1239–1243
  7. Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, Sentinel Event Alert, 2001 [cited 2006 November 29], available from: http://www.jointcommission.org/.
  8. Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, A follow-up review of wrong site surgery, Sentinel Event Alert, 2001 [cited 2006 March 8], available from: http://www.jointcommission.org/.
  9. Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, Preventing ventilator-related deaths and injuries, Sentinel Event Alert, 2002 [cited 2006 November 29], available from: http://www.jointcommission.org/.
  10. In:  Aspden P, et al. editor. Preventing Medication Errors. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press; 2007;
  11. In:  Kohn LT,  Corrigan JM,  Donaldson MS editor. To Err is Human: Building a Safer Health System. Washington, DC: National Academy Press; 1999;p. 287
  12. R.L. Wears, Caution interrupted, AHRQ WebM&M [Online journal], 2004 [cited 2007 September 12], available from: http://www.webmm.ahrq.gov/case.aspx?caseID=73&searchStr=interruptions.
  13. Spencer R, Coiera E, Logan P. Variation in communication loads on clinical staff in the emergency department. Annals of Emergency Medicine. 2004;44(3):268–273
  14. Alvarez G, Coiera E. Interruptive communication patterns in the intensive care unit ward round. International Journal of Medical Informatics. 2005;74:791–796
  15. Sevdalis N, Healey AN, Vincent CA. Distracting communications in the operating theatre. Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice. 2007;13(3):390–394
  16. Stake RE. Qualitative case studies. In:  Denzen NK,  Lincoln YS editor. The Sage Handbook of Qualitative Research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publication, Inc.; 2005;p. 443–462
  17. Weijer C. Benefit-sharing and protection for communities in genetic research. Clinical Genetics. 2000;58:367–368
  18. Vicente KJ. Cognitive Work Analysis: Toward Safe, Productive, and Healthy Computer-Based Work. Mahwah, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlebaum Associates; 1999;p. 392
  19. Duffy ME. Methodological triangulation: a vehicle for merging quantitative and qualitative research methods. IMage: Journal of Nursing Scholarship. 1987;19(3):130–133
  20. QRS, NVivo 2.0, Doncaster Victoria, Australia, 2002.
  21. P.M. Sanderson, MacSHAPA, 1994.
  22. Brixey JJ, et al. Towards a hybrid method to categorize interruptions and activities in healthcare. International Journal of Medical Informatics. 2007;76(11–12):812–820
  23. Glaser B, Strauss A. The Discovery of Grounded Theory. New York: Aldine Publishing; 1967;
  24. Brixey JJ, et al. Interruptions in a level one trauma center: a case study. International Journal of Medical Informatics. 2008;77(4):235–241
  25. Soto RG, et al. Communication in critical environments: mobile telephones improve patient care. Anesthesia and Analgesia. 2006;102:535–541
  26. Zhang J. The Effects of Timing of Interruption on Human Action. La Jolla: Department of Psychology and Institute for Cognitive Science; 1987;p. 15
  27. Czerwinski M, Horvitz E, Wilhite S. A diary of task switching and interruptions. In: Human Factors in Computing Systems CHI 2004. Vienna, Austria. 2004;
  28. Gopher D, Armony L, Greenshpan Y. Switching tasks and attention policies. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General. 2000;129(3):308–309
  29. Cellier JM, Eyrolle H. Interference between switched tasks. Ergonomics. 1992;35(1):25–36
  30. Dismukes K, Young G, Sumwalt R. Cockpit interruptions and distractions: effective management requires a careful balancing act. ASRS Directline. 1998;(10):4–9
  31. Griffon-Fouco M, Ghertman F. Recueil de donnees sur les facteurs humains a Electricite de France. In: Operational Safety of Nuclear Power Plants. Vienna: International Atomic Energy Agency; 1984;p. 157–172
  32. O’Connaill D, Frohlich D. Timespace in the workplace: dealing with interruptions. In: CHI’95 Mosaic of Creativity. 1995;
  33. G. Mark, V.M. Gonzalez, J. Harris, No task left behind? Examining the nature of fragmented work, in: Technology, Community, and Safety, ACM, Portland, OR, 2005.

PII: S1386-5056(08)00150-0

doi: 10.1016/j.ijmedinf.2008.08.007

International Journal of Medical Informatics
Volume 79, Issue 6 , Pages e109-e115 , June 2010