The relationship between interruption content and interrupted task severity in intensive care nursing: an...

Area of Science:

• Nursing Science
• Healthcare Operations
• Human Factors Engineering

Background:

• Previous research indicated most nurse interruptions in cardiovascular intensive care units (CVICUs) were work-related.
• A higher proportion of personal interruptions occurred during low-severity tasks, suggesting interrupters may have assessed task criticality.

Purpose of the Study:

• To address methodological limitations of prior studies by analyzing interruption rates as a function of task type and severity.
• To validate previous findings and report interruption rates across different task severities and interruption contents.

Main Methods:

• An observational study was conducted in a 24-bed CVICU during day shifts.
• Thirteen nurses were observed for an average of 89 minutes over 3 weeks.
• Researchers collected real-time data on interruptions and task severity, as defined by nurses.

Main Results:

• Nurses spent approximately 50% of their time on medium-severity tasks, 35% on high-severity tasks, and 14% on low-severity tasks.
• The rate of personal interruptions during low-severity tasks was 1.97 to 3.23 times higher than during high- and medium-severity tasks, respectively.

Conclusions:

• Findings suggest that individuals interrupting nurses may evaluate the criticality of the nurses' tasks.
• Strategies to mitigate interruptions should focus on relevance and urgency, rather than complete elimination.
• Enhancing task transparency could help modulate interruption timing and approach.