The Effects of Clinical Task Interruptions on Subsequent Performance of a Medication Pre-Administration Task

Abstract

There is a surge of research exploring the role of task interruptions in the manifestation of primary task errors both in controlled experimental settings, and safety critical workplaces such as healthcare. Despite such research providing valuable insights into the disruptive properties of task interruption, and, the importance of considering the likely disruptive consequences of clinical task interruptions in healthcare environments, there is an urgent need for an approach that best mimics complex working environments such as healthcare, whilst allowing better control over experimental variables with minimal constraints. We propose that this can be achieved with ecologically sensitive experimental tasks designed to have high levels of experimental control so that theoretical as well as practical parameters and factors can be tested. We developed a theoretically and ecologically informed procedural memory-based task-the CAMROSE Medication Pre-Administration Task. Results revealed significantly more sequence errors were made on low, moderate and high complex conditions compared to no interruption condition. There was no significant difference in non-sequence errors. Findings reveal the importance of developing ecologically valid tasks to explore non-observable characteristics of clinical task interruptions. Both theoretical and possible practical implications are discussed.

Interruptions during medication work in a Saudi Arabian hospital: An observational and interview study of nurses

“…An experimental study which mimicked a real clinical setting related with medication preparation tasks demonstrated a significant difference between conditions with and without interruptions. The likelihood of errors increased as the complexity of the conditions increased from low to moderate to high, while no errors were committed under the no‐interruption conditions (Williams et al, 2020). An Australian study demonstrated a significant positive association ( p = 0.01) between the presence of interruptions and the rate of medication errors in a real clinical setting.…”