Exploring nurses' multitasking in clinical settings using a multimethod study

Nurses often multitask in the process of managing patient care and communicating with healthcare providers simultaneously within a limited time, which can negatively affect patient care and safety. In this multimethod research, we conducted a time and motion study to record nursing activities using eye trackers for 23 participants (9 nurses and 14 patients). The frequency and duration of single and multitasking activities were analyzed. Additionally, we conducted focus group interviews (FGIs) with 12 nurses (2–5 nurses per group) to further investigate their multitasking experience. The total duration of the eye tracker recordings was 3,399 min. Daily nursing activities comprised 23.7%, 21.1%, and 12.5% of scheduled medication, documentation, and monitoring and measurement, respectively. Among these activities, nurses mostly carry out scheduled medication, monitoring, and measurement together. Three themes emerged in the FGIs: "Being involved in every little task regarding patient care," "Getting swamped by the complexity of symptoms and problems of the patients at a given time," and "Getting interrupted at work too often." Nurses performed multiple activities while cooperating with other healthcare providers and providing care to patients. It is important to create an environment where nurses can focus on essential nursing activities to improve patient safety.