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Risk Reduction and Vigilance in Anesthesia

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Distracted Doctoring

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Abstract

Distraction in the operating room poses a significant risk to patient safety. Anesthesia personnel thrive in complex environments and are adept at moving from smooth routine to intense urgency. As medical technologies have become more complex and numerous, the need to multitask and attend to various monitors has also increased. In this chapter we will discuss vigilance, multitasking, distraction, and safe patient care in the operating room environment. We will discuss the risks of attending to low-tech tasks (such as reading) in this environment, as well as the risks of personal electronic devices (PEDs), with attention given to the balance between distraction and improved access to medical information.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Beaumont Health, Anesthesiology, Royal Oak, MI, USA

    Roy G. Soto & Mallika Thampy

  2. Department of Anesthesia, Critical Care, and Pain Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

    Sara Neves

Authors
  1. Roy G. Soto
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  2. Mallika Thampy
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  3. Sara Neves
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Roy G. Soto .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Rochester Medical Center, Pittsford, New York, USA

    Peter J. Papadakos

  2. Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures, The University of Windsor, Windsor, Ontario, Canada

    Stephen Bertman

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Soto, R.G., Thampy, M., Neves, S. (2017). Risk Reduction and Vigilance in Anesthesia. In: Papadakos, P., Bertman, S. (eds) Distracted Doctoring. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-48707-6_12

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-48707-6_12

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-48706-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-48707-6

  • eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)

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