Technology-mediated awareness: Facilitating the handling of (un)wanted interruptions in a hospital setting

Does revealing contextual knowledge of the patient’s intention help nurses’ handling of nurse calls?

“…11.010 1386-5056/© 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved. help and to coordinate work [6,7]. However, as a number of studies have identified, nurses' struggle with the interruptions that nurse calls cause to their work [4,6,[8][9][10][11].…”

“…help and to coordinate work [6,7]. However, as a number of studies have identified, nurses' struggle with the interruptions that nurse calls cause to their work [4,6,[8][9][10][11]. Little effort has been placed on supporting nurses in an effective way to manage the inevitable interruptions caused by nurse calls [6].…”

“…However, as a number of studies have identified, nurses' struggle with the interruptions that nurse calls cause to their work [4,6,[8][9][10][11]. Little effort has been placed on supporting nurses in an effective way to manage the inevitable interruptions caused by nurse calls [6]. Instead, previous work has examined how to reduce the number of interruptions, for example, through the introduction of additional nursing rounds [4,11].…”

“…In our previous studies of nurses' handling of nurse calls at a Norwegian university hospital [6,7], we found that nurses' decisions regarding whether to respond to a nurse call depend on several contextual factors. The first factor identified is the patient's condition, as seriously ill patients are prioritised over others.…”

“…Knowing that someone else is able to respond to the call in their place during an activity that is difficult to leave relieves the nurse's stress. Previously, we have looked into how providing information about colleagues' availability through an awareness system could enhance nurses' nurse call handling [6,23].…”