The purpose of this paper is to identify personal electronic device (PED) use by cardiac team members during a series of cardiovascular surgeries. Authors make the case that these devices contribute to the cognitive disconnect between practitioners and their primary task of taking care of the surgical patient.

This prospective observational study took place over four months of data collection. Twenty-five cardiovascular procedures (totaling 139.06 h) were observed for workflow disruptions and those related to the use of PEDs were further analyzed for frequency of occurrence and time spent attending to the PED.

Data collection yielded 545 events for analysis; each requiring an average of 86.51 s of attention. Most PED use events took place during bypass (n = 233) followed by pre-bypass (n = 197) and post-bypass (n = 115).

The results presented here indicate that mobile devices have infiltrated not just social interactions, but those situations that by their nature demand often times undivided attention to ensure safety and protection of others.