How Do Interruptions Impact Image Reading?

Interruptions are inevitable in any workplace, but for on-call radiologists, minor interruptions can significantly delay image analysis, according to a report that will be published in the Journal of Medical Imaging.

On average, an on-call radiologist fields 72 phone calls over a 12-hour night shift. Phone calls and other interruptions can result in radiologists spending more time on dictation than reading the images. Previous research has suggested that physicians who have to deal with interruptions are also less confident about patient diagnosis.

In a first-of-its-kind study, Researchers led by Trafton Drew, PhD, an assistant professor of cognition and neural science at the University of Utah used eye-tracking software to understand how interruptions impacted image reading. They gave a group of on-call radiologists a series of complex cases and then called their phone with a pre-recorded message from another doctor asking them to look at another patient’s case.

The researchers found that radiologists spent “several additional minutes overall” on the images they were assessing after the first time they were interrupted and more time focused on the dictation screen.

Although the study proved that radiologists give less time to reviewing the case at hand after they’re interrupted, the participants were concerned that nature of the disruptions during the study were “benign” in comparison to the interruptions they typically deal with.

This research could ultimately help radiologists readjust the way they approach image review. “If it takes some period of time for the radiologist to reconstruct what he or she saw prior to the interruption, it might actually be good practice to take a little longer on cases when they are interrupted,” said Dr. Drew. “Ultimately, this means that interruptions will either lead to more potential for error or fewer cases being seen by the radiologists.”