Background: In the clinical setting, the dispersed practitioners' attention often leads to
decreased competence in their performance. We aimed to investigate the effect of
distracted practitioners on the quality of chest compression during cardiopulmonary
resuscitation.
Methods: A randomised controlled crossover simulation study was conducted.
Participants were recruited from among doctors, nurses, and paramedics working in a
university tertiary hospital. The paced auditory serial addition test (PASAT) was used
as a tool for distracting participants. In the crossover design, each participant played
two scenarios with a 20-minute time gap, by a random order; 2-minute continuous
chest compressions with and without PASAT being conducted. The primary outcome
was the percentage of compression with an adequate compression rate. Secondary
outcomes were the percentage of compression with adequate depth, the percentage of
compression with full chest wall recoil, mean compression rate (per minute), mean
compression depth, and subjective difficulty of chest compression.
Results: Forty-four participants were enrolled, and all of them completed the study. It
was found that the percentage of compression with an adequate compression rate was
lower when the PASAT was conducted. Although there was no difference in the
percentage of compression with adequate depth (p=0.88), the percentage of
compression with complete chest recoil was lower when PASAT was conducted. In
addition, while the mean compression rate was higher when PASAT was conducted,
the mean compression depth was not significantly different (p=0.65). The subjective
difficulty was not different (p=0.69).
Conclusions: Healthcare providers who are distracted have a negative effect on the
quality of chest compression, in terms of its rate and chest wall recoil

The effect of distraction by dual work on a CPR practitioner's efficiency in chest compression