Summary
Objective: To examine the problem of studying interruption in healthcare.
Methods: Review of the interruption literature from psychology, human-computer interaction;
experimental studies of electronic prescribing and error behaviour; observational
studies in emergency and intensive care.
Results: Primary task and interruption variables which contribute to the outcomes of an interruption
include the type of task (primary and interrupting task); point of interruption; duration
of interruption; similarity of interruptive task to primary task; modality of interruption;
environmental cues; and interruption handling strategy. Effects of interruption on
task performance can be examined by measuring errors, the time on task, interruption
lag and resumption lag.
Conclusions: Interruptions are a complex phenomenon where multiple variables including the characteristics
of primary tasks, the interruptions themselves, and the environment may influence
patient safety and work-flow outcomes. Observational studies present significant challenges
for recording many of the process variables that influence the effects of interruptions.
Controlled experiments provide an opportunity to examine the specific effects of variables
on errors and efficiency. Computational models can be used to identify the situations
in which interruptions to clinical tasks could be disruptive and to investigate the
aggregate effects of interruptions.
Keywords
Interruption - medical error - safety - efficiency - evaluation studies - observation
- computer simulation
