RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 The Myth of Multitasking and What It Means for Future Pharmacists
JF American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education
JO Am J Pharm Educ
FD American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy
SP 8267
DO 10.5688/ajpe8267
VO 85
IS 10
A1 Stephanie Enz
A1 Amanda C. G. Hall
A1 Kathryn Keirn Williams
YR 2021
UL http://www.ajpe.org/content/85/10/8267.abstract
AB Objective. The primary purposes of this study were to determine the extent to which multitasking affects the speed and accuracy with which Doctor of Pharmacy students identify prescription errors and whether there is a relationship between students’ self-perception of their multitasking ability and their actual ability.Methods. One hundred twenty-one second-year pharmacy students enrolled in the required course Introduction to Dosage Forms spent one week in an experimental (multitasking) condition and one week in a control (undistracted) condition. Subjects were given 10 minutes to check 10 prescriptions and record any identified filling errors. A cellular phone was placed in each room. Subjects in the experimental (multitasking) condition answered a call from a researcher posing as a talkative customer during the prescription-checking task while subjects in the control condition were not interrupted by a cell phone call during the task. Subjects’ completion times and accuracy were recorded.Results. When subjects were multitasking, they took significantly longer to complete the prescription-checking task than when they were not multitasking. Furthermore, when subjects were multitasking, they scored significantly lower on the prescription-checking task than when they were not multitasking. Finally, students’ self-perceptions of their multitasking abilities were not related to the speed with which they completed the prescription-checking task nor to their accuracy.Conclusion. Multitasking negatively affects speed and accuracy of prescription verification in student pharmacists. Our procedure can be used as an in-class activity to demonstrate the limits of attention and to shape how future pharmacists practice.