Interruptions during nurses' work in surgical units determined by staff members: findings from a multi-center observational study, Italy.

BACKGROUND: Interruptions during nurses' work may lead to errors. Little research has been undertaken to date on interruptions in nursing care in surgical settings, specifically with regard to interruptions where other staff was the source of the interruption. OBJECTIVES: To describe the frequency and characteristics of interruptions to nursing work caused by other staff members and to identify predictors according to the source of interruption. METHODS: We conducted a multi-centre observational study in five surgical units admitting urgent and elective cases, in public hospitals in northern Italy. Registered nurses (RN) met inclusion criteria if, at the time of the study, they were (a) working full-time at the study hospital, (b) working since at least three years in the surgical unit, and (c) working either during morning or afternoon shifts. A random sample of 50 RNs was observed during morning and afternoon shifts for a total of 360 hours. Data on interruptions (e.g. duration of the interruption), individual nurses' characteristics (e.g. years of clinical experience), and work setting (e.g. hospital size) were collected and subjected to logistic regression analysis. RESULTS: The mean frequency of interruptions either caused by staff members or other sources was respectively 2.7/hour and 2.9/ hour. Interruptions caused by staff members were shorter than those due to other sources (25.6s vs 39.4s; p=<0.001), just over half occurred during the morning shift and most took place either in the corridors (37%) or in nurses' rooms (36%). Having more years of experience in a surgical unit and having a higher number of nurses available during the shift were protective against interruptions whereas being a graduate RN, taking care of a higher number of patients and working in a large hospital increased the risk of being interrupted by staff members. CONCLUSIONS: Strategies for multi-professional cooperation which minimise interruptions and protect younger graduate nurses are needed.

Occurrence and Duration of Interruptions During Nurses' Work in Surgical Wards: Findings From a Multicenter Observational Study.

This was an observational multicenter study of 50 registered nurses, randomly selected, on 5 surgical wards in 5 Italian hospitals. There were on average 5.6 interruptions per hour. Interruptions occurred more frequently during the afternoon shift (n = 1061; 52.8%), were caused mainly by the staff members (n = 978; 48.7%) during medication administration (n = 1075; 53.5%), and were managed directly by the nurses (n = 1639; 81.6%). The average duration of an interruption was 32.7 seconds (95% confidence interval, 30.7-34.7).