Whiteboard Icons to Support the Blood-Test Process in an Emergency Department: An Observational Study of Temporal Patterns

Arnvør Martinsdottir á Torkilsheyggi, Morten Hertzum, Gustav From

    Publikation: Bidrag til bog/antologi/rapportKonferencebidrag i proceedingsForskningpeer review

    Abstract

    The competent treatment of emergency department (ED) patients requires an effective and efficient process for handling laboratory tests such as blood tests. This study investigates how ED clinicians go about the process, from ordering blood tests to acknowledging their results and, specifically, assesses the use of whiteboard icons to support this process. On the basis of observation and interviews we find that the blood-test process is intertwined with multiple other temporal patterns in ED work. The whiteboard icons, which indicate four temporally distinct steps in the blood-test process, support the nurses in maintaining the flow of patients through the ED and the physicians in assessing test results at timeouts. The main results of this study are, however, that the blood-test process is temporally and collaboratively complex, that the whiteboard icons pass by most of this complexity, that attending to the icons is yet another temporally sensitive activity to remember, and that whereas the assessment of test results is integral to patient treatment, the acknowledgement of having seen the results is a formal add-on, the responsibility for which is sometimes unclear.
    OriginalsprogEngelsk
    TitelMedinfo 2013 : Proceedings of the 14th World Congress on Medical and Health Informatics
    RedaktørerChristoph Ulrich Lehmann, Elske Ammenwerth, Christian Nøhr
    Antal sider5
    ForlagIOS Press
    Publikationsdato2013
    Sider303-307
    ISBN (Trykt)978-1-61499-288-2
    ISBN (Elektronisk)978-1-61499-289-9
    DOI
    StatusUdgivet - 2013
    BegivenhedThe 14th World Congress on Medical and Health Informatics - Bella Center, Copenhagen, Danmark
    Varighed: 20 aug. 201323 aug. 2013
    http://www.medinfo2013.dk/

    Konference

    KonferenceThe 14th World Congress on Medical and Health Informatics
    LokationBella Center
    Land/OmrådeDanmark
    ByCopenhagen
    Periode20/08/201323/08/2013
    Internetadresse
    NavnStudies in Health Technology and Informatics
    Nummer192
    ISSN0926-9630

    Emneord

    • Emergency department
    • Laboratory tests
    • Temporal patterns

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