Clinical impact of task interruptions on the anaesthetic team and patient safety in the operating theatre

Editor—The analysis of adverse events related to patient care often finds task interruptions as a contributing factor in medical reasoning, 1 Enser M. Moriceau J. Abily J. et al. Background noise lowers the performance of anaesthesiology residents’ clinical reasoning when measured by script concordance: a randomised crossover volunteer study. Eur J Anaesthesiol. 2017; 34: 464-470 Crossref PubMed Scopus (17) Google Scholar technical performance 2 Biron A.D. Loiselle C.G. Lavoie-Tremblay M. Work interruptions and their contribution to medication administration errors: an evidence review. Worldviews Evid Based Nurs. 2009; 6: 70-86 Crossref PubMed Scopus (126) Google Scholar and drug delivery. 2 Biron A.D. Loiselle C.G. Lavoie-Tremblay M. Work interruptions and their contribution to medication administration errors: an evidence review. Worldviews Evid Based Nurs. 2009; 6: 70-86 Crossref PubMed Scopus (126) Google Scholar In the field of anaesthesia, the subject of task interruptions remains poorly documented. 3 Campbell G. Arfanis K. Smith A.F. Distraction and interruption in anaesthetic practice. Br J Anaesth. 2012; 109: 707-715 Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (61) Google Scholar ,4 Jothiraj H. Howland-Harris J. Evley R. Moppett I.K. Distractions and the anaesthetist: a qualitative study of context and direction of distraction. Br J Anaesth. 2013; 111: 477-482 Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (26) Google Scholar Limitations in existing studies include that the primary endpoint was not task interruptions and the small number of procedures studied. Moreover, the definition of task interruption was wide, including all events likely to interfere with physician vigilance (distraction), and not just considering those that were responsible for cessation of activity (interruption). In a study conducted by our team, the number of task interruptions (responsible for cessation of activity) was 1.5 per h 5 Compère V. Besnier E. Clavier T. et al. Evaluation of the time spent by anesthetist on clinical tasks in the operating room. Front Med. 2022; 8768919 Crossref Scopus (1) Google Scholar in comparison to 13.8 distracting events per hour reported by Campbell and colleagues and 60 per h reported by Jothiraj and colleagues 3 Campbell G. Arfanis K. Smith A.F. Distraction and interruption in anaesthetic practice. Br J Anaesth. 2012; 109: 707-715 Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (61) Google Scholar and Jothiraj et al. 4 Jothiraj H. Howland-Harris J. Evley R. Moppett I.K. Distractions and the anaesthetist: a qualitative study of context and direction of distraction. Br J Anaesth. 2013; 111: 477-482 Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (26) Google Scholar