The chaotic nature of nurse activities

The chaotic nature of nursing work is part of what makes it stressful, as described in this ground-breaking 2010 paper in The Journal of Nursing Administration by Cornell et al, Transforming Nursing Workflow, Part 1, The Chaotic Nature of Nurse Activities.

The authors observe that, "...there is little 'flow' in nurse workflow. The chaotic pace implies that nurses rarely complete an activity before switching to another."  Frequent interruptions and switching between uncompleted tasks cause stress and errors. 

A cognitive support tool such as NurseMind can mitigate these stresses by supporting the cognitive side of nursing work. 

You're in the middle of task A when something (a change in patient status? a request from a patient? from another staff member? a call bell? an alarm? a new order?) causes you to switch to task B that is, in turn, interrupted by the need to do task C.  How do you make sure to eventually return and complete task A?  Alas, often you don't;  you simply forget, or let its priority drop from sight.  However, a tool such as NurseMind helps by not turning the uncompleted task's icon green (i.e. completed) until you check it off.

Other interesting observations in this paper:

• Few professionals are required to perform as many functions and tasks in as many locations, often while "on the fly." With experience, nurses become accustomed to this situation, and it becomes part of the routine. However, constant switching and juggling take a toll on performance, especially on work processes requiring complex decision making or reasoning.
• Research in cognitive psychology has long established that performance is best when an individual can remain focused and undisturbed, especially with demanding work. Applications of cognitive research to nursing and healthcare are just beginning but show promise in enabling a better understanding of process and performance.

NurseMind is one such application.