Clinician interruptions in urgent and emergency departments waste time, increase stress, and reduce safety. Discover how digital communication tools like Vic can help restore focus and improve patient experience in the NHS.
A busy emergency department is never quiet. Alarms, calls, updates, patients waiting for results, relatives asking for information and somewhere in the middle, clinicians trying to think clearly, make safe decisions, and maintain patient flow through the system.
Interruptions are part of urgent and emergency medicine, but research shows non-urgent interruptions are also one of its biggest hidden drains on time, focus, and safety. What if the solution wasn’t more staff or more space, but smarter communication?
The Scale of the Problem
Clinicians in urgent and emergency care settings are interrupted frequently – some studies estimate up to 5.1 – 13 times per hour. Each interruption might seem minor: a question about waiting times, figuring out where the nearest toilet is, a patient asking what happens next. But cumulatively, these distractions fragment attention, delay task completion, and increase the risk of error.
In cognitive psychology, this is called task-switching cost: every time a clinician’s concentration is broken, it can take several minutes to reorient and resume the previous task. In a department already under pressure, these micro-delays compound into lost hours, delayed discharges, and elevated stress levels.
Why Interruptions Happen
Most interruptions don’t stem from emergencies, they come from information gaps. Patients and relatives want updates; staff need quick clarifications; communication between departments is delayed or inconsistent.
Patients in the waiting room often have no sense of what’s happening: Has my urine test been seen? Will I need an X-ray and are they safe? When will the doctor review me? Should I still be here? Without clear updates, they naturally turn to the nearest staff member for reassurance, even if that member is in the middle of a clinical task.
Meanwhile, clinicians report feeling pulled in multiple directions, constantly switching between urgent decision-making and ad hoc communication tasks. The result? Lost time, higher stress, and a sense that the system itself works against focus.
The Case for Digital Communication
This is where digital communication tools like Vic can make a real difference. Vic enables clinicians to communicate with patients waiting in the emergency department via secure, two-way WhatsApp messaging.
Through Vic, clinicians can:
- Send patients timely updates (“You are next to be seen”, “Your x-ray results are ready”).
- Share information or self-care advice while patients wait.
- Offer redirection to alternative care settings when appropriate.
- Handle administrative processes (such as referrals or follow-up bookings) without leaving the clinical workspace.
In effect, Vic creates a communication layer between clinicians and patients that reduces the number of physical interruptions without reducing human connection. Patients can still ask questions and feel informed, but the timing and flow of communication are controlled and efficient.
The Measurable Benefits
Reducing interruptions isn’t just about convenience — it directly impacts safety, morale, and flow.
- Improved clinical focus: Fewer interruptions mean more time in cognitive “flow state,” where complex decisions can be made without distraction.
- Reduced burnout: Staff feel more in control of their workload and less mentally scattered.
- Better patient experience: Real-time updates reduce anxiety, complaints, and aggression in waiting areas.
- Operational efficiency: Fewer unnecessary face-to-face queries mean faster throughput and more time spent on clinical care.
Early pilots of digital communication systems in NHS urgent care centres have shown promising signs — from reduced staff interruptions to improved satisfaction scores among both patients and clinicians.
Rethinking Communication as Safety
The NHS has invested heavily in digital records and data infrastructure. But the real frontier of digital transformation lies in how we communicate, especially in the high-stakes, high-noise environment of urgent care.
Every unnecessary interruption represents not just lost time, but lost focus – and focus means safety. Smarter communication tools like Victor don’t replace the clinician–patient relationship; they protect it.
By keeping patients informed, clinicians uninterrupted, and communication continuous, Victor helps turn one of the most chaotic environments in healthcare into one where clarity and calm can return — one message at a time.
Vic 