Strategies to reduce interruptions from mobile communication systems in surgical wards

Abstract

We conducted interviews with two surgeons from the department of gastrointestinal surgery at the University Hospital of North Norway. The results confirmed that interruptions from mobile devices were a problem, especially in surgical theatres, outpatient wards, emergency wards and inpatient rooms. Users in hospitals, especially surgeons and physicians, need a better communication system. Our proposed system would intercept the signals from the existing communication system before they are sent out to the mobile devices. The signals would then be routed through a context-aware system, paired with context information and available rules defined by the doctor, which will decide what to do with the call/page. A single device which integrates both the pager and the phone system, and makes use of context information to control interruptions automatically yet allow the caller to decide whether to interrupt, would be highly appreciated by the users.

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