A first of its kind study shows typical interruptions experienced by on-call radiologists do not reduce diagnostic accuracy but do change what they look at and increase the amount of time spent on a case.
The implication of the finding is that as radiologists contend with an increasing number of workplace interruptions, they must either process fewer cases or work longer hours -- both of which have adverse effects in terms of patient outcomes, said Trafton Drew, the study's lead author. They also may spend more time looking at dictation screens than reviewing medical images.
"In radiology, there is a growing recognition that interruptions are bad and the number of interruptions faced by radiologists is increasing," said Drew, an assistant professor of cognitive and neural science in the University of Utah's Department of Psychology. "But there isn't much research at all on the consequences of this situation."
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Thursday March 22 2018, @05:11PM (4 children)
Watson will not have that problem. Watson will see what can be seen, and diagnose better than humans diagnose.
As long as nobody programs Watson to discriminate or terminate, the future is bright. Who wants puny humans to have jobs, when you can rake in more cash by not having them ?
(Score: 4, Insightful) by DannyB on Thursday March 22 2018, @05:32PM (1 child)
An AI also creates jobs.
For every 1000 jobs an AI eliminates, it will create 10 jobs for security people who protect the AI from those other 990 marching with torches and pitchforks.
When trying to solve a problem don't ask who suffers from the problem, ask who profits from the problem.
(Score: 4, Funny) by Immerman on Thursday March 22 2018, @05:41PM
Only until the Terminator assembly lines are operational...
(Score: 5, Insightful) by krishnoid on Thursday March 22 2018, @07:45PM
Pfft, if Watson is so good at that, why don't they just set *it* up to be interrupted and let the radiologist keep working?
(Score: 1) by khallow on Friday March 23 2018, @12:05AM
Why would that happen? We already have multi-tiered economic systems. You're not out of a job just because someone has figured out how to thrash derivatives for a living nor are you paid in the same sort of funny money wealth that they play in.
I don't buy that we'll somehow have a world where humans can't be employed at any price - unless, of course, human labor is made illegal.
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Thursday March 22 2018, @05:12PM (1 child)
Have you heard the one about the interrupting sheep?
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 2) by arulatas on Thursday March 22 2018, @07:00PM
Baaah!!! No one believes in interrupting sheep anymore!
----- 10 turns around
(Score: 5, Insightful) by DannyB on Thursday March 22 2018, @05:31PM (5 children)
Are Radiologists the only ones affected by interruptions? With patients having bad outcomes.
How about Software Developers affected by interruptions when they are not on SN? This has bad outcomes on unit tasting.
Interruptions don't do anyone any good. They can be somewhat controlled. Have an office with a door that can close. Humans probably make more mistakes when interrupted, even if they are not radiologists. Especially if the context you must keep in your head is large and complex (software). Or you are concentrating on spotting some difficult to identify detail, such as a tumor in an image. "hey joe, it's lunchtime, chomp chomp chomp!" Or having your sleep interrupted: "hey bob, it's five p.m. time to go home!"
Making it worse we live in a world of interruptions. Things dinging and donging and tweedle beeping at us for attention all the time. And pets. (For some people: children, hey look at me!)
If radiologists' interruptions are causing bad patient outcomes, not to mention extra work hours, maybe the problem could be fixed by reducing interruptions, or getting more radiologists? Which would be cheaper do you think? What if you turn many of those non critical interruptions into one task to perform when not analyzing images?
What about Uber safety drivers interrupted by having to look at the road from time to time. Which leads to bad outcomes for pedestrians.
When trying to solve a problem don't ask who suffers from the problem, ask who profits from the problem.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 22 2018, @05:45PM (1 child)
I think we can fix the radiologists' problem with interruptions by putting them in open office plans. We should make them be more social. That's their problem. They're a bunch of anti-social dorks! Probably can't get laid either! They'll be more productive being packed in with other radiologists so they can, er, collaborate! Yeah! That's it!
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Friday March 23 2018, @01:16PM
Open plan offices are not conducive to getting laid.
When trying to solve a problem don't ask who suffers from the problem, ask who profits from the problem.
(Score: 2) by KiloByte on Thursday March 22 2018, @05:48PM
Well, yeah, but conducting a study — or a series of studies — on a single specialisation who all do nearly identical tasks allows avoiding most biases that would cloud the results of a study on a more diverse group. Software developers for example perform different tasks even within the same team.
Analyze a nice homogenous group first, and only then check if the results apply elsewhere.
Ceterum censeo systemd esse delendam.
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Thursday March 22 2018, @06:29PM
How about Software Developers affected by interruptions when they are not on SN? This has bad outcomes on unit tasting.
Or, conversely, allowing work to interrupt you Soylenting!
(Score: 3, Insightful) by frojack on Thursday March 22 2018, @10:03PM
Interrupting a Radiologist means he just looks back at the xrays. Big deal.
Interrupt a programmer deep in a line of code investigation and you might wipe out and hour and a half of work tracing some nasty bug.
Nobody dies in either case, but the coder will be thinking murder sooner than the radiologist.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 3, Touché) by requerdanos on Thursday March 22 2018, @06:08PM (2 children)
As anyone familiar with my brief comments can attest, I am no research scientist. But let me take a stab at interpreting this.
So, to summarize: Astonishing new study reveals that if someone is interrupted more at work, he will either finish fewer things or stay longer to get them done. And that's bad. It makes his work not as good. So there is a growing recognition that things that are not good, are bad.
That about right?
Put like that it might sound silly, but--what's the better way to put it?
(Score: 3, Interesting) by HiThere on Thursday March 22 2018, @06:26PM
It doesn't sounds silly, it sounds obvious. But some managers really like the open office plan. Perhaps a few studies would help.
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 22 2018, @06:30PM
While it may sound silly to us here, the stated facts are still waaayyy above the heads of most corporate executives.
Hey, peon! Stop blabbering about "impossible" ! Nothing, you hear, nothing, is impossible as long as other people have to do it! I can't think of any reason why it shouldn't be easy, since it's just two of your magical-techno-weenie-handshakes that you always do! Obviously you are lying to me to have an easy life at company expense! Now get crackin', pronto!, I want results! Otherwise the company's death will be on YOUR shoulders, since YOU weren't up to my totally reasonable expectations and didn't perform!! It's all your fault! Not mine!!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 23 2018, @12:22AM
We need to kick them in the nuts to remind them they are not. I had to deal with a batch of them that were just plain assholes to everyone, and the hospital let them get away with it. Luckily we never met face to face...
(Score: 1) by RandomFactor on Friday March 23 2018, @01:23AM
What task would benefit from being interrupted?
(I mean sure, juggling short half-life radioisotopes would, but in general....)
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