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J U N E 2 0 1 4 | O R E X C E L L E N C E. C O M S U P P L E M E N T T O O U T P AT I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E O N L I N E
W
hen Peter J. Papadakos, MD,
stepped up to address OR
Excellence's attendees last
year, he didn't just request
that they silence their smart
phones. He also directed them to turn them over,
face down on the table. And close their laptops, too.
Out of sight, out of mind, right? Not quite. "Twenty
percent of the audience said that made them feel
uncomfortable," he recalled in a recent interview,
marveling at the idea that 1 in 5 people attending a
lecture spend the time looking at their phones. In "Is
Your Staff Addicted (to Personal Gadgets and
Devices)?" the director of critical care at the
University of Rochester (N.Y.) Medical Center will
explain why that question should concern healthcare
administrators, and offers up strategies for eliminat-
ing electronic distractions from ORs.
• Targeting distraction. A few years ago, I'd read
an article in The New York Times about the increase
in distracted driving incidents. I'd seen trauma patients
from auto accidents at our hospital, but when I
noticed how often our staff was checking their elec-
tronic screens — even during pre-op time outs, when
they should have been paying attention and participat-
K I C K E R
No Te xt i n g Dur in g Time O u t s!
Eliminate electronic distractions
from the surgical environment.
Peter J. Papadakos, MD
where
leaders meet, learn and grow together
Speaker Profile
• An anesthesiolo-
gist and director
of critical care at
the University of
Rochester Medical
Center in upstate
New York.
• Professor of anes-
thesiology, surgery
and neurosurgery
at the University of
Rochester.
• Quoted in The
New York Times
as saying, "My
gut feeling is
lives are in dan-
ger," referring to
distracted doctor-
ing.
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