An interview analysis of coordination behaviours in out-of-hours secondary care

Martindale, Sarah; Golightly, David; Pinchin, James; Shaw, Dominick; Blakey, John; Perez, Iker; Sharples, Sarah

Abstract

This paper seeks to elicit and structure the factors that shape the execution and, in particular, the coordination of work in Out of Hours care. Evenings and weekends in UK hospitals are managed by specific Out of Hours (OoH) care arrangements, and associated technology. Managing care within the constraints of staff availability and demands is a key concern for both patient care and staff wellbeing, yet has received little attention from healthcare human factors. A study of sixteen clinical staff used Critical Decision Method to understand how work is coordinated and the constraints and criteria that are applied by the roles managing OoH care. The analysis identified ten types of coordination decision which, in turn, underpinned three types of adaptive behaviour-pre-emption, information augmentation and self-organisation-that were crucial for the effective performance in OoH care. These behaviours explain how OoH staff manage the task demands placed on them, individually and as a team.

Citation

Martindale, S., Golightly, D., Pinchin, J., Shaw, D., Blakey, J., Perez, I., & Sharples, S. (2019). An interview analysis of coordination behaviours in out-of-hours secondary care. Applied Ergonomics, 81, Article 102861. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apergo.2019.05.011

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: May 22, 2019
• Online Publication Date: Jun 22, 2019
• Publication Date: Jun 22, 2019
• Deposit Date: May 28, 2019
• Publicly Available Date: Jun 22, 2020
• Journal: Applied Ergonomics
• Print ISSN: 0003-6870
• Electronic ISSN: 1872-9126
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 81
• Article Number: 102861
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apergo.2019.05.011
• Keywords: Out of Hours care; healthcare; coordination; complex systems; workload management 2
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/2098134
• Publisher URL: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S000368701930095X
• Additional Information: This article is maintained by: Elsevier; Article Title: An interview analysis of coordination behaviours in Out–of–Hours secondary care; Journal Title: Applied Ergonomics; CrossRef DOI link to publisher maintained version: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apergo.2019.05.011; Content Type: article; Copyright: © 2019 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.