Commentary: Death by Distraction

Abstract

Distraction is something that emergency medical personnel are intimately familiar with. We’re used to being distracted on our shifts. Observational studies have shown that interruptions during ED shifts occur as frequently as every 6 to 9 minutes. We tell ourselves that it’s okay because we’re excellent multitaskers; then we try to remember what we were doing and get back to it. In the meantime, studies demonstrating our multitasking effectiveness—or the lack thereof—are beginning to accumulate, and they suggest we’re not as facile with distractions as perhaps we’d like to be. A study of residents performing virtual surgery showed worse outcomes with pagers beeping and sign-out list questions being asked compared with that in a quiet environment. It’s widely accepted that interrupting nurses during medication preparation and administration is detrimental to patient safety. Yet, as providers, we often continue to believe that we’re immune to this effect. Language: en