SynthesisSurgical endoscopy2016
A systematic review of the effect of distraction on surgeon performance: directions for operating room policy and surgical training.
Synthesis in Surgical endoscopy, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 53 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
53 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 140 citations in OpenAlex.
- Interruption science as a research field: Towards a taxonomy of interruptions as a foundation for the field.Frontiers in psychology · 2023Pooled it
- Noise in Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery operating rooms: a systematic review.Journal of otolaryngology - head & neck surgery = Le Journal d'oto-rhino-laryngologie et de chirurgie cervico-faciale · 2021Pooled it
- Non-technical skills in minimally invasive surgery teams: a systematic review.Surgical endoscopy · 2016Pooled it
- Training with cognitive load improves performance under similar conditions in a real surgical task.American journal of surgery · 2020Trial
- The Effect of Task Demand on EEG Responses to Irrelevant Sound and Speech in Simulated Surgical Environments.Psychophysiology · 2026Article
- Balancing Objectivity and Humanity: Ethical Challenges and Considerations in Surgical Candidacy Decisions.HEC forum : an interdisciplinary journal on hospitals' ethical and legal issues · 2026Article
- Optimizing AI implementation for surgery: recommendations for infrastructure and deployment in the operating room.NPJ digital medicine · 2026Article
- Surgeons' Perceptions on the Utility of a Conceptual Novel Force Sensor at the Surgeon-Tool Interface: Formative Interview Study.JMIR formative research · 2026Article
- A Familiar Working Environment Influences Surgeon's Stress in the Operating Room: A Multi-Specialty Prospective Cohort Study.Annals of surgery · 2026Article
- Prerequisites for Infection Prevention Interventions During the Intraoperative Phase From the Perspective of Operating Room Nurses-An Integrative Review.Nursing open · 2026Review
- Overview of surgical training and assessment of surgical skills: a narrative review.Frontiers in surgery · 2025Review
- Live Surgery in Orthopedics: Balancing Educational Benefits and Ethical Challenges in the Modern Surgical Practice.Journal of orthopaedic case reports · 2024Article
- Article
- Collaborative Human-Computer Vision Operative Video Analysis Algorithm for Analyzing Surgical Fluency and Surgical Interruptions in Endonasal Endoscopic Pituitary Surgery: Cohort Study.Journal of medical Internet research · 2024Article
- A Quantitative Analysis of Intraoperative Distractions and When They Occur During General Surgical Operations.Cureus · 2024Article
- Comparison between accuracy of augmented reality computed tomography-based and portable augmented reality-based navigation systems for cup insertion in total hip arthroplasty.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Accuracy of augmented reality with computed tomography-based navigation in total hip arthroplasty.Journal of orthopaedic surgery and research · 2023Article
- Associations of flow disruptions with patient, staff, and process outcomes: a prospective observational study of robotic-assisted radical prostatectomies.Surgical endoscopy · 2023Observational
- A distractions capture tool for cardiac surgery and lung transplantation: impact on outcomes.Journal of cardiothoracic surgery · 2023Article
- Unpacking the Broad Landscape of Intraoperative Stressors for Clinical Personnel: A Mixed-Methods Systematic Review.Journal of multidisciplinary healthcare · 2023Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 5 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundDistractions during surgical procedures have been linked to medical error and team inefficiency. This systematic review identifies the most common and most significant forms of distraction in order to devise guidelines for mitigating the effects of distractions in the OR.
methodsIn January 2015, a PubMed and Google Scholar search yielded 963 articles, of which 17 (2 %) either directly observed the occurrence of distractions in operating rooms or conducted a laboratory experiment to determine the effect of distraction on surgical performance.
resultsObservational studies indicated that movement and case-irrelevant conversation were the most frequently occurring distractions, but equipment and procedural distractions were the most severe. Laboratory studies indicated that (1) auditory and mental distractions can significantly impact surgical performance, but visual distractions do not incur the same level of effects; (2) task difficulty has an interaction effect with distractions; and (3) inexperienced subjects reduce their speed when faced with distractions, while experienced subjects did not.
conclusionThis systematic review suggests that operating room protocols should ensure that distractions from intermittent auditory and mental distractions are significantly reduced. In addition, surgical residents would benefit from training for intermittent auditory and mental distractions in order to develop automaticity and high skill performance during distractions, particularly during more difficult surgical tasks. It is unclear as to whether training should be done in the presence of distractions or distractions should only be used for post-training testing of levels of automaticity.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.