Deeper understanding of the purpose of interruptions in critical care can help to distinguish between interruptions that require face-to-face conversation and those that can be eliminated with informatics solutions. The proposed taxonomy of interruptions and representational analysis can be used to further advance the science of interruptions in clinical care.

Objective To examine the impact of the implementation of an electronic handoff tool (the Handoff Tool) on shared mental models (SMM) within patient care teams as measured by content overlap and discrepancies in verbal handoff presentations given by different clinicians caring for the same patient. Materials and Methods Researchers observed, recorded, and transcribed verbal handoffs given by different members of patient care teams in a pediatric intensive care unit. The transcripts were qualitatively coded and analyzed for content overlap scores and the number of discrepancies in handoffs of different team members before and after the implementation of the tool. Results Content overlap scores did not change post-implementation. The average number of discrepancies nearly doubled following the implementation (from 0.76 discrepancies per handoff group pre-implementation to 1.17 discrepancies per handoff group post-implementation); however, this change was not statistically significant (p = 0.37). Discrepancies classified as related to dosage of treatment or procedure and to patients’ symptoms increased in frequency post-implementation. Discussion The results suggest that the Handoff Tool did not have the desired positive impact on SMM within patient care teams. Future electronic tools for facilitating team handoff may need longer implementation times, complementary changes to handoff process and structure, and improved designs that integrate a common core of shared information with discipline-specific records. Conclusion While electronic handoff tools provide great opportunities to improve communication and facilitate the formation of shared mental models within patient care teams, further work is necessary to realize their full potential.

Results from the study are expected to enhance our understanding of the efficacy of CAMI to enhance young men's reproductive health and fitness behaviors.

Objective: Rapid advancements in medicine and changing standards in medical education require new, efficient educational strategies. We investigated whether an online intervention could increase residents’ knowledge and improve knowledge retention in mechanical ventilation when compared with a clinical rotation and whether the timing of intervention had an impact on overall knowledge gains. Design: A prospective, interventional crossover study conducted from October 2015 to December 2017. Setting: Multicenter study conducted in 33 PICUs across eight countries. Subjects: Pediatric categorical residents rotating through the PICU for the first time. We allocated 483 residents into two arms based on rotation date to use an online intervention either before or after the clinical rotation. Interventions: Residents completed an online virtual mechanical ventilation simulator either before or after a 1-month clinical rotation with a 2-month period between interventions. Measurements and Main Results: Performance on case-based, multiple-choice question tests before and after each intervention was used to quantify knowledge gains and knowledge retention. Initial knowledge gains in residents who completed the online intervention (average knowledge gain, 6.9%; sd, 18.2) were noninferior compared with those who completed 1 month of a clinical rotation (average knowledge gain, 6.1%; sd, 18.9; difference, 0.8%; 95% CI, –5.05 to 6.47; p = 0.81). Knowledge retention was greater following completion of the online intervention when compared with the clinical rotation when controlling for time (difference, 7.6%; 95% CI, 0.7–14.5; p = 0.03). When the online intervention was sequenced before (average knowledge gain, 14.6%; sd, 15.4) rather than after (average knowledge gain, 7.0%; sd, 19.1) the clinical rotation, residents had superior overall knowledge acquisition (difference, 7.6%; 95% CI, 2.01–12.97;p = 0.008). Conclusions: Incorporating an interactive online educational intervention prior to a clinical rotation may offer a strategy to prime learners for the upcoming rotation, augmenting clinical learning in graduate medical education.

The proposed novel mixed-methods approach helped to reveal emerging patterns in content and structure of handoff communication and highlight differences due to the clinical context, and to the different priorities of clinicians on interdisciplinary patient care teams. The approach for calculating SMM is more ecologically sensitive as it relies on naturally occurring discourse and less intrusive than traditional ways of assessing SMM, and takes initial steps toward establishing empirical foundation for the design of electronic tools to support handoff in interdisciplinary teams.