TY - JOUR

T1 - Effects of electronic emergency-department whiteboards on clinicians’ time distribution and mental workload

AU - Hertzum, Morten

AU - Simonsen, Jesper

PY - 2016

Y1 - 2016

N2 - Whiteboards are a central tool at emergency departments (EDs). We investigate how the substitution of electronic for dry-erase whiteboards affects ED clinicians’ mental workload and distribution of their time. With the electronic whiteboard physicians and nurses spend more of their time in the work areas where other clinicians are present and whiteboard information is permanently displayed and less in the patient rooms. Main reasons for these changes appear to be that the electronic whiteboard facilitates better timeouts and handovers. Physicians and nurses are however in the patient rooms for longer periods at a time, suggesting a more focused patient contact. The physicians’ mental workload has increased during timeouts, whereas the nurses’ mental workload has decreased at the start of shifts when they form an overview of the ED. Finally, the secretaries, but neither physicians nor nurses, access whiteboard information on computers other than the permanent displays

AB - Whiteboards are a central tool at emergency departments (EDs). We investigate how the substitution of electronic for dry-erase whiteboards affects ED clinicians’ mental workload and distribution of their time. With the electronic whiteboard physicians and nurses spend more of their time in the work areas where other clinicians are present and whiteboard information is permanently displayed and less in the patient rooms. Main reasons for these changes appear to be that the electronic whiteboard facilitates better timeouts and handovers. Physicians and nurses are however in the patient rooms for longer periods at a time, suggesting a more focused patient contact. The physicians’ mental workload has increased during timeouts, whereas the nurses’ mental workload has decreased at the start of shifts when they form an overview of the ED. Finally, the secretaries, but neither physicians nor nurses, access whiteboard information on computers other than the permanent displays

KW - Faculty of Humanities

KW - electronic whiteboard

KW - emergency department

KW - mental workload

KW - sociotechnical change

KW - time with patients

U2 - 10.1177/1460458214529678

DO - 10.1177/1460458214529678

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 24782481

VL - 22

SP - 3

EP - 20

JO - Health Informatics Journal

JF - Health Informatics Journal

SN - 1460-4582

IS - 1

ER -