Interrupted? You'll Probably Make More Mistakes
I hate it when I'm interrupted . Now a new study says highly trained workers in some occupations could actually be at risk for making errors when interrupted, according to two Michigan State University psychology researchers, as reported by newswise.com. The reason: Experienced workers are generally faster at performing procedural tasks, meaning their actions are more closely spaced in time and thus more confusable when they attempt to recall where to resume a task after being interrupted. “Suppose a nurse is interrupted while preparing to give a dose of medication and then must remember whether he or she administered the dose,” says Erik Altmann, lead investigator on the project. “The more experienced nurse will remember less accurately than a less-practiced nurse, other things being equal, if the more experienced nurse performs the steps involved in administering medication more quickly.” That’s not to say skilled nurses should avoid giving medication, but on...