Frequency of single and categorised workflow interruptions
| Category | Single workflow interruption | Observed workflow interruptions | Interruptions per hour | ||
| n (%) | M (SD) | ||||
| Colleague interruptions | Doctors | 1138 (74.8) | 249 (16.4) | 2.73 (1.21) | 0.63 (0.56) |
| Nursing staff | 449 (29.5) | 1.07 (0.72) | |||
| Telephone/beeper | 440 (28.9) | 1.05 (0.61) | |||
| Interruption by others | Patients | 214 (14.1) | 75 (4.9) | 0.52 (0.44) | 0.18 (0.29) |
| Patients' relatives | 58 (3.8) | 0.14 (0.23) | |||
| Any other person | 49 (3.2) | 0.12 (0.18) | |||
| Equipment/technical malfunctions | 32 (2.1) | 0.07 (0.15) | |||
| Impediments/delays | Information impediments | 169 (11.1) | 82 (5.4) | 0.41 (0.39) | 0.20 (0.28) |
| Waiting time | 71 (4.7) | 0.17 (0.24) | |||
| Motor impediments | 16 (1.1) | 0.04 (0.10) | |||
| Overall | 1521 | 3.66 (1.39) | |||
Note: 86 half shift observations; overall observation time: 414 h, 56 min, 23 s; n, number of interruptions.