title: Can You Multitask? Evidence and Limitations of Task Switching and Multitasking in Emergency Medicine.
abstract: Emergency physicians work in a fast-paced environment that is characterized by frequent interruptions and the expectation that they will perform multiple tasks efficiently and without error while maintaining oversight of the entire emergency department. However, there is a lack of definition and understanding of the behaviors that constitute effective task switching and multitasking, as well as how to improve these skills. This article reviews the literature on task switching and multitasking in a variety of disciplines-including cognitive science, human factors engineering, business, and medicine-to define and describe the successful performance of task switching and multitasking in emergency medicine. Multitasking, defined as the performance of two tasks simultaneously, is not possible except when behaviors become completely automatic; instead, physicians rapidly switch between small tasks. This task switching causes disruption in the primary task and may contribute to error. A framework is described to enhance the understanding and practice of these behaviors.
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI. Electronic address: skaugset@med.umich.edu.
authors.forename: L Melissa
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Skaugset
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA.
authors.forename: Susan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Farrell
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI.
authors.forename: Michele
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Carney
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI.
authors.forename: Margaret
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wolff
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI.
authors.forename: Sally A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Santen
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI.
authors.forename: Marcia
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Perry
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN.
authors.forename: Stephen John
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Cico
mesh_terms: D001288:Attention; D003071:Cognition; D004635:Emergency Medicine / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D010820:Physicians / Q000523:psychology*; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D016526:Workload