Analysing Action Sequences: Variations in Action Density in the Administration of Anaesthesia

Abstract:

Anaesthesia may be characterised as a paradigmatic field of activity in complex work environments. The aim of this study is to achieve an in-depth understanding of the anaesthetists’ clinical practice by investigating the operational composition of action sequences. Previous time and motion studies have all faced the methodological problem of recording and interpreting concurrent operations. This study, however, aims to approach this problem by applying a new observation method, sensitive to overlapping operations in action sequences. The analysis of overlapping operations provides us with a means of describing action density. The results of our process-oriented case analysis show that action density exhibits a characteristic and distinct distribution during the administration of anaesthesia. Moreover, overlapping operations seem to have a central position when dealing with the varying requirements related to the occurrence of unexpected events. Some implications of our approach for the design of simulator settings will be discussed.