Impact of interruptions, distractions, and cognitive load on procedure failures and medication administration errors.

Lily Thomas; Patricia Donohue-Porter; Joanna Stein Fishbein

Study

Impact of interruptions, distractions, and cognitive load on procedure failures and medication administration errors.

July 19, 2017

Thomas L, Donohue-Porter P, Fishbein JS. J Nurs Care Qual. 2017;32(4):309-317.

View more articles from the same authors.

Interruptions and distractions can contribute to medication administration errors. This direct observation study found that interruptions and distractions are frequent during nursing medication administration, which increased cognitive load. These results demonstrate how interruptions affect nursing safety.

PubMed citation

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Administration Errors

Impact of interruptions, distractions, and cognitive load on procedure failures and medication administration errors.

Nursing and Patient Safety

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