ORIGINAL ARTICLES   

Minerva Pediatrica 2013 December;65(6):617-30

Copyright © 2013 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

Surgery checklist implementation to reduce clinical risk in the pediatric operating room

Bellora E., Falzoni M. ✉

Maggiore della Carità University Hospital Novara, Italy

Aim: The aim of this prospective cohort study was to conduct a proactive analysis of procedural errors as revealed after implementation of a surgical safety checklist in the pediatric operating room of the Maggiore della Carità University Hospital, Novara. A further aim was to determine the effect the checklist had on the reduction, prevention, and protection against clinical risk in this setting.
Methods: A “Checklist for Patient Safety in the Pediatric Operating Room” was derived from documentation in the international literature and implemented in June 2011. All data were collected by a single observer.
Results: In all, 61 checklists were compiled. Analysis revealed 189 errors (absolute frequency), with the highest error incidence (59.78%) recorded for the sign-out phase (percentage cumulative frequency). Two categories of events were distinguished (surgical and orthopedic) and compared. The absolute frequency of near-miss events (n=168) and adverse events (n=21) was then broken down into the five phases of checklist compilation. The percentage cumulative frequency of near-miss was 88.89% and that of adverse events was 11.11%.
Conclusion: Safety checklist implementation led to reduction, prevention and protection against adverse events with patient injury in 88.89% of cases. The error incidence in this pediatric operating room was lower than the average rates published in the literature.