Operating room event analysis.

A time/motion study performed in the Department of Anesthesiology at Ohio State University divided intraoperative events into three categories: (1) patient-centered, direct--activities that direct the anesthesiologist's attention to the patient; (2) patient-centered, indirect--observation of equipment or data related to patient status; and (3) non-patient-centered--activities that direct the anesthesiologist's attention away from the patient. Surprisingly, results of this study did not differ greatly from those of earlier investigators, who found that the anesthesiologist was distracted from the patient 46% of the time. Future studies and monitor development should address this problem by reducing non-patient-centered activities and distractions to the anesthesiologist during surgery.