Purpose: The purpose of this study was to explore the experiences of distracted practice across the healthcare team.
Definition: Distracted practice is the diversion of a portion of available cognitive resources that may be needed to effectively perform/carry out the current activity.
Background: Distracted practice is the result of individuals interacting with the healthcare team, the environment and technology in the performance of their jobs. The resultant behaviors can lead to error and affect patient safety.
Methods: A qualitative descriptive (QD) approach was used that integrated observations with semi-structured interviews. The conceptual framework was based on the distracted driving model and a completed concept analysis.
Results: There were 22 observation sessions and 32 interviews (12 RNs, 11 MDs, and 9 Pharmacists) completed between December, 2014 and July 2015. Results suggested that distracted practice is based on the main theme of cognitive resources which varies by the subthemes of individual differences; environmental disruptions; team awareness; and “rush mode”/time pressure.
Conclusions and Implications: Distracted practice is an individual human experience that occurs when there are not enough cognitive resources available to effectively complete the task at hand. In that moment an individual shifts from thinking critically, being able to complete their current task without error, to not thinking critically and working in an automatic mode. This is when errors occur. Additional research is needed to evaluate intervention strategies to reduce and prevent distracted practice.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:umassmed.edu/oai:escholarship.umassmed.edu:gsn_diss-1051 |
| Date | 11 January 2016 |
| Creators | D'Esmond, Lynn Berggren Knapp |
| Publisher | eScholarship@UMassChan |
| Source Sets | University of Massachusetts Medical School |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | Tan Chingfen Graduate School of Nursing Dissertations |
| Rights | © Copyright by Lynn K. D’Esmond 2016. All rights reserved., http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
| Relation | <ul> <li><a href="http://escholarship.umassmed.edu/gsn_pp/57" target="_blank">Published article based on this dissertation</a></li> <li><a href="http://escholarship.umassmed.edu/gsn_pp/58" target="_blank">Published article based on this dissertation</a></li> </ul> |
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