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A Note to My Doctor: Lessons from Fifty Years of Distracted Driving Research

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Distracted Doctoring

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Abstract

While research on the effects of technological distractions on doctoring may be relatively new, research on the effect of technological distractions on driving is not. The purpose of this chapter is to translate what we know from traffic safety into medical safety. Both have one very important aspect in common: the human brain. This chapter will provide a simple framework for understanding the cognitive processes that are affected by distraction. It will make a convincing case that the research consistently shows sharing attention between two seemingly simple tasks can have a deadly impact on performing one of them. A case will be made that this problem will continue to grow. The chapter will briefly explore the reasons we convince ourselves that we can do two things at once. And in conclusion, the chapter will offer some suggestions for solving the problem.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, USA

    Paul Atchley PhD

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  1. Paul Atchley PhD
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Correspondence to Paul Atchley PhD .

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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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Atchley, P. (2017). A Note to My Doctor: Lessons from Fifty Years of Distracted Driving Research. In: Papadakos, P., Bertman, S. (eds) Distracted Doctoring. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-48707-6_5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-48707-6_5

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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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