Article-at-a-Glance Background The environment surrounding registered nurses (RNs) has
been described as fast-paced and unpredictable, and nurses' cognitive load as
exceptionally heavy. Studies of interruptions and multitasking in health care are limited, and
most have focused on physicians. The extent and type of interruptions and multitasking of
nurses, as well as patient errors, were studied using a natural-setting observational field
design. The study was conducted in seven patient care units in two Midwestern hospitals …