Examining the cognitive processes underlying resumption costs in task-interruption contexts: Decay or inhibition of suspended task goals?

To examine whether an ongoing primary task is inhibited when switching to an interruption task, we implemented the n - 2 backward inhibition paradigm into a task-interruption setting. In two experiments, subjects performed two primary tasks (block-wise manipulation) consisting of a predefined sequence of three subtasks. The primary tasks differed regarding whether the last subtask switched or repeated relative to the penultimate subtask, resulting in n - 1 switch subtasks (e.g., ABC) and n - 1 repetition subtasks (e.g., ACC) as the last subtask of the primary task. Occasionally, an interruption task was introduced before the last subtask of a primary task, changing the last subtask of the primary task from a n - 1 switch subtask to a n - 2 switch subtask (e.g., AB → secondary task → C) and from a n - 1 repetition subtask to a n - 2 repetition subtask (e.g., AC → secondary task → C). In two experiments with different degrees of response-set overlap between the interruption task and the subtasks of the primary task, we observed that switching back from the interruption task to the primary task resulted in n - 2 switch costs in the first subtask after the interruption (i.e., worse performance in n - 2 switch subtasks than in n - 2 repetition subtasks). This n - 2 switch cost was replicated in a third experiment in which we used a predefined sequence of four subtasks instead of three subtasks. Our finding of n - 2 switch costs suggest that the last subtask performed before the interruption remains activated when switching to the interruption task.

Interhospital transport of pediatric patients requiring emergent care: current status in Turkey.

BACKGROUND: This study was designed to evaluate the current situation of interhospital transport of pediatric patients requiring emergent care. METHODS: Using a clinical prospective and multicenter design, 1,666 interhospital transports of pediatric patients were evaluated in 18 centers. Non-emergency transports and newborn transports were not included, so 854 transports were eligible for evaluation. Data were collected by means of a comprehensive form filled by a physician at the receiving hospital. RESULTS: The physicians who gave the decisions for the transports were pediatricians in 60%, general physicians in 15.4%, and residents in 6%, while no identification existed in 159 transports (18.6%). The receiving hospitals were not notified prior to the transport in 79.3%. Pretransport information about the patients were adequate in 26.1% and inadequate in 31.8%; no information was available in 42.1%. Ambulances were used in 64.4% of the transports, of which only 16.2% was fully equipped. Unqualified or inexperienced personnel were in charge in 42.8% of the transports. In 26.3% of the transports, the patients arrived at the receiving hospital in an agonized state. CONCLUSION: It appears that there are no established guidelines for the emergency transport of pediatric children in Turkey.