Interruptions in healthcare: theoretical views

Area of Science:

• Healthcare research
• Patient safety
• Human factors in medicine

Background:

• Healthcare environments are highly interruptive.
• Previous research in other fields shows adverse effects of interruptions.
• This review focuses on critical care and medication dispensing settings.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review existing literature for evidence linking interruptions to adverse events in healthcare.
• To identify gaps in current research regarding interruptions and patient safety.

Main Methods:

• Comprehensive literature search across multiple databases (MEDLINE, CINAHL, EMBASE, PsycINFO, etc.).
• Review of paper titles and abstracts to identify relevant studies.
• Focus on critical care and medication dispensing settings.

Main Results:

• Current evidence directly linking healthcare interruptions to adverse events is lacking.
• Reasons for this lack of evidence include descriptive study designs, absence of theoretical frameworks, and complexity of healthcare.
• Existing accident theories suggest a complex relationship between activities and medical errors.

Conclusions:

• Future research requires theoretical grounding (e.g., prospective memory, distributed cognition).
• Investigating successful interruption management is crucial.
• Utilizing more appropriate dependent variables is needed to capture both positive and adverse effects of interruptions.