Epilepsy Talk
Doctors distracted by electronic devices… | June 3, 2023
Do you know what happens during surgery?
Cut…open…correct…sew.
Maybe some background music. Hip if the doctor likes that. Or classical.
Well, not exactly.
You might be surprised. Or horrified to learn the truth.
How about your technician who’s running the bypass machine texting during the procedure…
Or the nurse checking airfares…
And your neurosurgeon chatting away on a personal phone call?
That’s right. Electronic devices have not only taken over our culture. They’ve taken over the operating room!
While some medical schools are teaching would-be doctors to use electronic devices – hopefully for diagnostic purposes – other medical staff prefer to check eBay.
Various high-profile cases have illustrated the deadly effects that doctor distraction can have.
The most famous case happened in Texas where a woman died after her oxygen levels fell during surgery. The anesthesiologist, who failed to notice the issue for 20 minutes, was accused of emailing and texting during the procedure.
In 2014, comedian Joan Rivers passed away due to complications during a minor throat surgery. During the operation, one doctor took cell phone photos of the comedian. Investigators didn’t find that this behavior directly caused the complications, but it may have contributed to the final outcome.
In another case, a resident began using her phone to enter an order to discontinue an inpatient’s blood-thinner order. In the middle of doing that, the resident was distracted by a text message from a friend asking about plans for an upcoming party.
She never finished entering the order, and the patient later required open-heart surgery to remove blood filling the sac around his heart.
It’s a problem. And an epidemic.
One might say that technology rules. In this age and era, doctors are almost born with cell phones in their hands. Texting, talking, searching, researching, buying, selling, planning and so on. They’re also expected to be available 24/7.
That’s part of the problem. And, in part, that explains “distracted doctoring”.
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 engrossing that it consumes awareness, potentially preventing healthcare providers from focusing on the primary task at hand — caring for and interacting with patients.
The consequences can be devastating.
Attending to a patient’s complex care needs is a high-risk activity that requires undivided attention presence in the moment to ensure the safety and protection of others.
The patient is in the doctor’s hands. Literally and figuratively.
They have put their faith and trust into the medical professional’s experience and expertise. Hands that may hold the power of life or death.
To subscribe to Epilepsy Talk and get the latest articles, simply go to the bottom box of the right column, enter your email address and click on “Follow.”
Resources:
https://www.reliasmedia.com/articles/142798-electronic-distractions-can-be-costly-to-surgeons-ascs
https://www.thedoctors.com/articles/distracting-devices-in-healthcare-malpractice-implications/
Tags: critical, dangers, death, distracted doctoring, electronic devices, errors, trust
6 Comments »
Leave a reply to Miss Gail Barry Cancel reply
About the author
Epilepsy Talk 
I had left temp lobe surgery nov 5th 1986. My anistisa was called a local. I herd the drill and saw during my surgery
. I also herd them say they removed a 3×5 cm piece of brain. Towards the end i was asked to move my hands and fingers and my feet and toes. A few hours after back in the room i told them i had to go. The nurse told me my cath was still in to just go. I did there was a hole in the tube it got pinched in the side rails. Hours after the surgery i was sitting on a toiled while the cleaned the bed.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Comment by mark d. geist — June 3, 2023 @ 9:25 AM
Hi Phyllis! I keep reading your posts which are very nice It’s been a while since I wrote. It’s really a nightmare in the operating room sometimes. An acquaintance mentioned to me how during the operation the surgeon’s sister held the phone to his ear and he was talking.
And the consequences were there. But no one said that this was an error during surgery and a birth defect. Who to believe. I’m digressing a little, but a week ago in Bulgaria, a healthy 26-year-old girl died. The doctors replied to her husband: “THIS TIME IT HAPPENED TO YOU TO PULSE THE SHORT STICK”. What audacity!!!!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Comment by Goro Dimitrov — June 3, 2023 @ 9:50 AM
Reblogged this on Disablities & Mental Health Issues.
LikeLike
Comment by Kenneth — June 3, 2023 @ 11:18 AM
Thank you, again—so simple, yet hidden by the anesthesia.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Comment by William Lipkin — June 4, 2023 @ 4:56 AM
I put down my story of my experiences in another post, having a vns removed with a local, they didn’t need gadgets, the chats around me between doctors and nurses were very interesting, I was nearly going to join in, and the surgeon doing the op was so tired but he wouldn’t relax, he was racing so he could help his mate having difficulty with another op in another theatre! And I finished up with wires left in my neck so I can’t have MRIs, it was only a fluke that I mentioned it to my neuro as he was arranging one for me, he went looking for the notes but there were none, that doctor sure was lazy and distracted, hope the other patient didn’t suffer
LikeLiked by 1 person
Comment by Miss Gail Barry — June 5, 2023 @ 2:16 AM
Incredible negligence. Oh how the patients suffer at the hands of the almighty doctors.
LikeLike
Comment by Phylis Feiner Johnson — June 5, 2023 @ 10:50 AM