title: [An analysis of the interruptions in general medicine consultations].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To find out the number and nature of the interruptions which occur in general medical consultations.
  
  
  METHODS
  Prospective study lasting two months. SITE. Two representative primary care consulting rooms in an urban health centre (a family and community medicine teaching centre).
  
  
  METHODS
  All the interruptions which occurred on the days chosen within the period of study were analysed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The two consulting rooms had an average of 10 and 6.8 interruptions a day: which suggests that, in 91% and 54% respectively of the consultations that took place, some type of interruption occurred. The average length of the interruptions was 35 and 16 seconds, which represented 3.2% and 1.1% of the total time of the consultations. The members of staff who caused most interruptions were janitors (30.6% and 37%), followed by clerks (24.1% and 22.5%). However those who took the most time in their interruptions were clerks (25.4% of the total time in one consulting room) and nurses (30.3% of the total time in the other consulting room). The majority of the interruptions (63% and 53%) were considered unjustified. The handling over of analyses and further tests (15.8% and 21.4%); the bringing-in of certificates stating inability to work (16.5% and 18.1%); and the bringing-in or taking-out of clinical notes (15.1% and 11.2%) accounted for the most common causes of interruption.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  There is a need to organise the health centre's infrastructure so that as few interruptions as possible take piece actually during a consultation, given the bad effect they have on the doctor-patient relationship.
authors.affiliation: Centro de Salud La Paz, Unidad Docente de Medicina Familiar y Comunitaria de Badajoz.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Buitrago
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Pozuelos
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cumplido
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hinojosa
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Lozano
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Altimiras
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D005194:Family Practice / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012017:Referral and Consultation / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012737:Sex Factors; D013030:Spain / Q000453:epidemiology; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D013997:Time Factors; D016526:Workload / Q000706:statistics & numerical data
vernacular_title: Análisis de las interrupciones en consultas de medicina general.