Article Offers Tips to Minimize Interruption of Nurses during Medication Administration

Before communicating with nurses, healthcare staff should carefully analyze each situation in order to avoid any unnecessary distractions or interruptions, states an article published in the November 2012 issue of Nursing2012. According to the authors, research has indicated that as much as 30% of all communications between healthcare providers involve interruptions, and each time a nurse is interrupted during medication administration, the risk of error increases by 12%. When determining whether or not to interrupt a nurse, the authors recommend that staff use the following rubric: (1) Situation. What is the nurse currently doing? (2) Significance. How important is the request? (3) Frequency.