Table 3: Sources of Interruptions.

The sources of interruptions to pharmacist tasks are described along with representative example scenarios to illustrate the manner in which each source of interruption disrupts the pharmacist workflow. The percent contribution refers to the percent of total observed interruptions that were initiated by a particular source of interruptions.

Sources of Interruptions (% contribution)	Example Scenario
Patients (43%)
In-person	Patient walking up to a pharmacy counter or driving up to the drive- thru window.
Phone call	Patient calling in a prescription refill and insisting to speak to a pharmacist.
Technicians (25%)
Not part of their role	Technicians are not legally authorized to provide a patient counseling and thus have to interrupt a pharmacist whenever they have a customer in front of the counter.
Need pharmacist assistance	Technician having difficulty with prior authorization or transfer of prescriptions.
Non-work related/Miscellaneous	Technicians initiating a conversation with a pharmacist about non- work-related issues such as family life or pets.
Self-initiated (17%)
Need information to complete tasks	Pharmacist receives prescription with missing information and calls the physician’s office to retrieve missing information.
Anticipation of events	Pharmacist overhears a developing situation in the pharmacy and anticipates an upcoming interruption from a technician; pharmacist breaks and waits for a question.
Coordination/ task management/ Prioritizing	Pharmacist makes sure that other pharmacists and technicians know about a specific prescription that was problematic.
Miscellaneous/Personal	Pharmacist initiates a conversation on non-work-related issue with another pharmacy staff.
Technology (8%)
Suboptimal designs of technology	Drug utilization review alerts appearing on the computer must be attended by a pharmacist for a technician to proceed with prescription processing.
Telephone, Public announcement system	Phone rings continuously and pharmacist answers it. Public announcement system makes a loud voice through speakers embedded in the store ceiling informing pharmacy staff about an incoming call.
Second pharmacist (5%)
Handing off information	Pharmacist will be leaving pharmacy at the end of the shift and needs to handoff information about an unresolved prescription issue.
Clarifying information	Pharmacist is not sure about a specific drug’s dosage in the prescription and asks another pharmacist for clarification.