When Digital Devices Distract Doctors, Mistakes Can Happen

By: Shelley Rizzo, RN, MSN, CLNC, CPHRM, CPPS

Digital distraction is emerging as a threat to patient safety & physician well-being. Patient care is a high-risk activity that requires undivided attention.

Digital distraction in healthcare is emerging as a great threat to patient safety and physician well-being.[1] This phenomenon involves the habitual use of personal electronic devices by healthcare providers for nonclinical purposes during appointments and procedures.[2] Some call it “distracted doctoring.” Matt Richtel, a journalist for the New York Times who won a Pulitzer Prize for his work on distracted driving, coined the term “distracted doctoring” in 2011. [3] Like driving, attending to a patient’s complex care needs is a high-risk activity that requires undivided attention and presence in the moment to ensure the safety and protection of others.

But the threat might more aptly be called “distracted practice,” as it impacts all healthcare workers and staff. While distraction is particularly concerning in the operating room, emergency room, and critical care areas, it can impact all healthcare settings-including the office practice. Personal electronic devices can create a digital distraction so engaging that it consumes awareness, potentially preventing healthcare providers from focusing…