The radiologist's workflow environment: evaluation of disruptors and potential implications.
Workflow interruptions in the health care delivery environment are a major contributor to medical errors and have been extensively studied within numerous hospital settings, including the nursing environment and the operating room, along with their effects on physician workflow. Less understood, though, is the role of interruptions in other highly specialized clinical domains and subspecialty services, such as diagnostic radiology. The workflow of the on-call radiologist, in particular, is especially susceptible to disruption by telephone calls and other modes of physician-to-physician communication. Herein, the authors describe their initial efforts to quantify the degree of interruption experienced by on-call radiologists and examine its potential implications in patient safety and overall clinical care.
Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California. Electronic address: jp.yu@ucsf.edu.
John-Paul J
JP
Yu
Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California.
Akash P
AP
Kansagra
Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California.
John
J
Mongan
D002140:California; D003951:Diagnostic Errors / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D003952:Diagnostic Imaging / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D017598:Efficiency, Organizational / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D061214:Patient Safety / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011871:Radiology / Q000458:organization & administration*; D057188:Workflow; D017132:Workplace / Q000458:organization & administration
Patient safety; interruptions; quality assurance; workplace disruptions