Add like
Add dislike
Add to saved papers

Does a novel method of delivering the safe surgical checklist improve compliance? A closed loop audit.

BACKGROUND: In February 2010, the UK National Patient Safety Agency set a mandate that the World Health Organisation's Surgical Safety Checklist (SSC) should be completed for every surgical patient within the NHS in a bid to improve surgical safety. However since its introduction, there have been issues with checklist compliance, staff engagement and surgical serious incidents continue.

AIMS: This study seeks to explore if an unavoidable pre-recorded audio delivery of the SSC improves compliance and staff engagement with the checklist.

METHODS: The performance of the time-out and sign-out sections of the SSC were observed in three phases: standard practice, audio prompt and full audio delivery. Two researchers visited operating theatres throughout a three-week period. The outcome measures were occurrence of time-out/sign-out, completion of checklist, and presence, and engagement of staff during checklist administration. Staff feedback on the process was also sought.

RESULTS: Observation of time-out and sign-out was undertaken for 92 procedures. Time-out and sign-out were performed for 100% of the procedures when using full audio delivery of the SSC, an improvement on findings during the standard practice phase (time out- 97.4%, sign out- 86.8%). The compliance with completion of checklist items also improved with audio delivery of the SSC. However, the presence of all key staff and active participation of team members with the checklist was unaffected by the mode of delivery. Team members' self-reported engagement did not significantly vary across the different practices.

CONCLUSION: The intervention seems to improve rate of checklist completion, particularly signout. It also brought more consistency on the questions read out during checklist administration. It doesn't necessarily ensure all key staff are present neither does it significantly improve staff engagement in the process.

Full text links

We have located links that may give you full text access.
Can't access the paper?
Try logging in through your university/institutional subscription. For a smoother one-click institutional access experience, please use our mobile app.

For the best experience, use the Read mobile app

Mobile app image

Get seemless 1-tap access through your institution/university

For the best experience, use the Read mobile app

All material on this website is protected by copyright, Copyright © 1994-2024 by WebMD LLC.
This website also contains material copyrighted by 3rd parties.

By using this service, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy.

Your Privacy Choices Toggle icon

You can now claim free CME credits for this literature searchClaim now

Get seemless 1-tap access through your institution/university

For the best experience, use the Read mobile app