Table 3 Task interruption rates for the preintervention and intervention periods, by study group
Experimental group | Control group | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
TOE | Preintervention period (A) (n = 1235) | Intervention period (B) (n = 2653) | p-value A vs. B (*) | Preintervention period (C) (n = 1211) | Intervention period (D) (n = 3373) | p-value C vs. D (*) | p-value B vs. D (†) |
Number of OE with at least one interruption | |||||||
For the TOE observed, n (%) | 165 (13.4) | 399 (15.04) | 0.182 | 288 (23.78) | 700 (20.75) | 0.031 | 0.350 |
Total number of interruptions a | 204 | 479 | 364 | 888 | |||
Type of task interruptions (at least one interruption of each type), n (%) | 191 | 446 | 321 | 809 | |||
Paramedical professional (nurse, other professional, hospital porter/paramedic) | 70 (36.7) | 141 (31.7) | 0.252 | 117 (36.4) | 312 (38.6) | 0.790 | 0.002 |
Medical professional (doctor) | 34 (17.8) | 48 (10.8) | 0.021 | 35 (10.9) | 87 (10.8) | 1.000 | 0.467 |
Non-health professional (relative, other patient, lack of material, noise, phone, emergencies, other) | 87 (45.6) | 257 (57.6) | 0.007 | 169 (0.53) | 410 (50.7) | 0.600 | 0.593 |
Potential clinical impact of errors with at least one interruption, n (%) | 12 | 24 | 18 | 52 | |||
No clinical impact | 8 (66.7) | 17 (70.8) | 1.000 | 12 (66.7) | 39 (75.0) | 0.545 | – |
Serious or significant clinical impact b | 4 (33.3) | 7 (29.2) | 6 (33.3) | 13 (25.0) | |||