Faculty mentor/PI email address
jim010@aol.cm
Is your research Teaching and Learning based?
1
Keywords
Interruptions; Emergency Medicine; Working Memory; Task Switching; Cognitive Load; Patient Safety
Date of Presentation
5-6-2026 12:00 AM
Poster Abstract
Background: Interruptions are ubiquitous in Emergency Departments (EDs) and have been associated with task delay, multitasking, and increased error risk. While operational and human-factors impacts are well described, the underlying neurocognitive mechanisms remain underexplored. Not all interruptions are avoidable. However, interruptions in emergency medicine represent neurocognitive destabilization events that can degrade task representation and increase vulnerability to error during task resumption. Recognizing the neural mechanisms underlying interruptions reframes their management as a systems-level patient safety priority. The aim is not elimination of clinically necessary communication, but thoughtful reduction, prioritization, and design that protects cognitive stability.
Objective: To synthesize cognitive neuroscience and human-factors literature to explain how interruptions — particularly repeated or stacked interruptions — destabilize neural task representations and impair task resumption in emergency clinicians.
Methods: Narrative integrative review drawing upon neuroscience, electrophysiology, task-switching research, interruption science, and emergency medicine observational studies.
Results: Interruptions activate salience-driven network switching that suppresses task-positive executive networks, degrades prefrontal working memory representations, and disrupts hippocampal context binding. Repeated interruptions produce nonlinear cognitive instability, increasing reliance on heuristic processing and elevating downstream error vulnerability.
Conclusion: Interruptions represent neurocognitive destabilization events rather than mere workflow inconveniences. The aim is not elimination of clinically necessary communication, but thoughtful reduction, prioritization, and design that protects cognitive stability. Understanding their neural basis reframes interruption management as a patient-safety and cognitive-protection priority within emergency medicine systems.
Disciplines
Emergency Medicine | Medicine and Health Sciences | Neurosciences
Included in
The Neurobiology of Interruptions in Emergency Medicine: The Case for Informed Interruption Management in Support of Cognitive Stability in High-Reliability Clinical Environments
Background: Interruptions are ubiquitous in Emergency Departments (EDs) and have been associated with task delay, multitasking, and increased error risk. While operational and human-factors impacts are well described, the underlying neurocognitive mechanisms remain underexplored. Not all interruptions are avoidable. However, interruptions in emergency medicine represent neurocognitive destabilization events that can degrade task representation and increase vulnerability to error during task resumption. Recognizing the neural mechanisms underlying interruptions reframes their management as a systems-level patient safety priority. The aim is not elimination of clinically necessary communication, but thoughtful reduction, prioritization, and design that protects cognitive stability.
Objective: To synthesize cognitive neuroscience and human-factors literature to explain how interruptions — particularly repeated or stacked interruptions — destabilize neural task representations and impair task resumption in emergency clinicians.
Methods: Narrative integrative review drawing upon neuroscience, electrophysiology, task-switching research, interruption science, and emergency medicine observational studies.
Results: Interruptions activate salience-driven network switching that suppresses task-positive executive networks, degrades prefrontal working memory representations, and disrupts hippocampal context binding. Repeated interruptions produce nonlinear cognitive instability, increasing reliance on heuristic processing and elevating downstream error vulnerability.
Conclusion: Interruptions represent neurocognitive destabilization events rather than mere workflow inconveniences. The aim is not elimination of clinically necessary communication, but thoughtful reduction, prioritization, and design that protects cognitive stability. Understanding their neural basis reframes interruption management as a patient-safety and cognitive-protection priority within emergency medicine systems.