Information Overload in Emergency Medicine Physicians: A Multisite Case Study Exploring the Causes, Impact, and Solutions in Four North England National Health Service Trusts

Abstract

Background Information overload is affecting modern society now more than ever because of the wide and increasing distribution of digital technologies. Social media, emails, and online communications among others infuse a sense of urgency as information must be read, produced, and exchanged almost instantaneously. Emergency medicine is a medical specialty that is particularly affected by information overload with consequences on patient care that are difficult to quantify and address. Understanding the current causes of medical information overload, their impact on patient care, and strategies to handle the inflow of constant information is crucial to alleviating stress and anxiety that is already crippling the profession. Objective This study aims to identify and evaluate the main causes and sources of medical information overload, as experienced by emergency medicine physicians in selected National Health Service (NHS) trusts in the United Kingdom. Methods This study used a quantitative, survey-based data collection approach including close- and open-ended questions. A web-based survey was distributed to emergency physicians to assess the impact of medical information overload on their jobs. In total, 101 valid responses were collected from 4 NHS trusts in north England. Descriptive statistics, principal component analysis, independent sample two-tailed t tests, and one-way between-group analysis of variance with post hoc tests were performed on the data. Open-ended questions were analyzed using thematic analysis to identify key topics. Results The vast majority of respondents agreed that information overload is a serious issue in emergency medicine, and it increases with time. The always available culture (mean 5.40, SD 1.56), email handling (mean 4.86, SD 1.80), and multidisciplinary communications (mean 4.51, SD 1.61) are the 3 main reasons leading to information overload. Due to this, emergency physicians experience guideline fatigue, stress and tension, longer working hours, and impaired decision making, among other issues. Aspects of information overload are also reported to have different impacts on physicians depending on demographic factors such as age, years spent in emergency medicine, and level of employment. Conclusions There is a serious concern regarding information overload in emergency medicine. Participants identified a considerable number of daily causes affecting their job, particularly the traditional culture of emergency departments being always available on the ward, exacerbated by email and other forms of communication necessary to maintain optimal, evidence-based practice standards. However, not all information is unwelcome, as physicians also need to stay updated with the latest guidelines on conditions and treatment, and communicate with larger medical teams to provide quality care.

Requirements for a Bespoke Intensive Care Unit Dashboard in Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic: Semistructured Interview Study

“…Interviewee 1099 (ICU Consultant) also raised concerns regarding notifications or alerts coming in at inappropriate times, since this could cause the adverse effect of “demoralizing people.” This participant further mentioned a concern for having a tool with which staff could compare their unit target achievements with other units. This could increase ICU staff stress, and might lead to suffering from burnout or cognitive overload, “wow, mine’s [targets or parameters] all red, things aren’t going very well,” which could have ramifications for both patients and staff due to the well-documented fact that the ICUs are incredibly stressful environments [ 5 , 6 , 52 ]. These are important concerns to address early and to ensure staff are all fully informed regarding the system itself and the transparency regarding how the digital logs that it will produce may be used outside of patient monitoring (eg, can these be used to assess staff performance in the workplace?).…”

Neurocardiovascular coupling in congenital diaphragmatic hernia patients undergoing different types of surgical treatment

“…Information overload in perioperative medicine is a major concern. 41 New monitoring strategies, which integrate different information sources in one straightforward, visual model could help to reduce information overload. The neurocardiovascular graphs provided new information on how the neonatal physiology and the CBF regulation mechanisms are affected by the actions of the clinicians, even in the most cardiore-spiratory stable patients.…”

Usability Study of a Novel Collaborative Health IT in a Pediatric Intensive Care Unit

“…I wouldn't be focused on what's important." Evidence shows that doctors are also profoundly affected by an ever-increasing amount of medical information impacting every aspect of their job (Sbaffi et al, 2020).…”

“…Moreover, excessive and unnecessary information can lead to anxiety and cognitive load, making it challenging to retrieve critical information. In 2016 a survey conducted by the Pew Research Center survey (Sbaffi, Walton, Blenkinsopp, & Walton, 2020) reported that about 20% of the American population experience information overload and face difficulty in searching for important information. Families in our study noted, "I don't necessarily want to see that information.…”