Citation

Forsyth KL, Hawthorne HJ, Linden AR, El-Sherif N, Varghese RS, Hallbeck MS, Blocker RC. Proc. Hum. Factors Ergon. Soc. Annu. Meet. 2017; 61(1): 643-647.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2017, Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, Publisher SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/1541931213601645

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Clinicians have anecdotally indicated that interruptions increase following trauma activations in the emergency department (ED), yet it is unknown whether interruptions change following the end of a trauma case. This study aimed to examine the interruption characteristics of clinicians that participate in trauma activations before and after activations using the SEIPS model. Observers shadowed ED clinicians across entire shifts and logged interruptions that affected clinicians in a tablet PC-based tool. Interruption characteristics captured included duration, nature, location, and task priority. Trauma activations lasting more than five minutes were also recorded. Only interruptions occurring within one-hour of trauma activations were included in the analysis. Chi-square analyses identified significant associations between SEIPS-categorized interruptions and the interruption priority, p < 0.01, and between the SEIPS-categorized interruptions and the interruption location, p = 0.01, pre- and post-trauma activations. Identifying these associations revealed key opportunities to reduce unnecessary interruptions in the ED.

Language: en