Multitasking simulation: Present application and future directions

The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education lists multi-tasking as a core competency in several medical specialties due to increasing demands on providers to manage the care of multiple patients simultaneously. Trainees often learn multitasking on the job without any formal curriculum, leading to high error rates. Multitasking simulation training has demonstrated success in reducing error rates among trainees. Studies of multitasking simulation demonstrate that this type of simulation is feasible, does not hinder the acquisition of procedural skill, and leads to better performance during subsequent periods of multitasking. Although some healthcare agencies have discouraged multitasking due to higher error rates among multitasking providers, it cannot be eliminated entirely in settings such as the emergency department in which providers care for more than one patient simultaneously. Simulation can help trainees to identify situations in which multitasking is inappropriate, while preparing them for situations in which multitasking is inevitable.