Interruptions in Emergency Medicine: Is There More Than Meets the Eye?

Interruptions (in the context of this paper) refer to any external event or person that disrupts any tasks or work process of an Emergency Physician (EP), thus requiring a redirection of the focus away from the current or primary task that is being performed. Interruptions can be viewed as breaks in the action that introduces new tasks on top of an ongoing one, often unexpectedly.

Distraction on the other hand, refers to what attracts the eyes, the mind and the ears. Attention is then diverted and directed to a different object, person or situation. It is challenging to eliminate distractions completely, knowing the kind of environment we live and work in today. This is especially true in the Emergency Department.

This paper will present a discussion from an EP’s perspective. What are the current understanding and postulations on interruptions? What does the latest in Interruption Science suggest and what strategies are available to handle and manage interruptions?

In the end, there are many variables when considering interruptions, thus making the outcomes and results not uniformly predictable. The end game will be to get a better handling of these interruptions which happens in one’s work or environment and come up with appropriate and practical, management and coping strategies.

Keywords: interruptions, distractions, emergency medicine, healthcare, interruption science.