title: Improving our understanding of multi-tasking in healthcare: Drawing together the cognitive psychology and healthcare literature.
abstract: Multi-tasking is an important skill for clinical work which has received limited research attention. Its impacts on clinical work are poorly understood. In contrast, there is substantial multi-tasking research in cognitive psychology, driver distraction, and human-computer interaction. This review synthesises evidence of the extent and impacts of multi-tasking on efficiency and task performance from health and non-healthcare literature, to compare and contrast approaches, identify implications for clinical work, and to develop an evidence-informed framework for guiding the measurement of multi-tasking in future healthcare studies. The results showed healthcare studies using direct observation have focused on descriptive studies to quantify concurrent multi-tasking and its frequency in different contexts, with limited study of impact. In comparison, non-healthcare studies have applied predominantly experimental and simulation designs, focusing on interleaved and concurrent multi-tasking, and testing theories of the mechanisms by which multi-tasking impacts task efficiency and performance. We propose a framework to guide the measurement of multi-tasking in clinical settings that draws together lessons from these siloed research efforts.
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology and Exercise Science, Murdoch University Singapore Campus, #06-04 Kings Centre, 390 Havelock Road 169662, Singapore. Electronic address: H.Douglas@murdoch.edu.au.
authors.forename: Heather E
authors.initials: HE
authors.lastname: Douglas
authors.affiliation: Centre for Health Systems and Safety Research, Australian Institute of Health Innovation, Level 6 75 Talavera Road, Macquarie University, NSW 2109, Australia. Electronic address: Magda.Raban@mq.edu.au.
authors.forename: Magdalena Z
authors.initials: MZ
authors.lastname: Raban
authors.affiliation: Centre for Health Systems and Safety Research, Australian Institute of Health Innovation, Level 6 75 Talavera Road, Macquarie University, NSW 2109, Australia. Electronic address: Scott.Walter@mq.edu.au.
authors.forename: Scott R
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Walter
authors.affiliation: Centre for Health Systems and Safety Research, Australian Institute of Health Innovation, Level 6 75 Talavera Road, Macquarie University, NSW 2109, Australia. Electronic address: Johanna.Westbrook@mq.edu.au.
authors.forename: Johanna I
authors.initials: JI
authors.lastname: Westbrook
mesh_terms: D001288:Attention; D001364:Awareness; D019336:Cognitive Science; D003695:Delivery of Health Care; D006801:Humans; D019300:Medical Errors / Q000517:prevention & control*; D010564:Personnel, Hospital / Q000523:psychology*; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D016526:Workload / Q000523:psychology*
keywords: Hospital; Medical errors/prevention and control; Medical staff; Multi-tasking