Articles: checklist.
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Surgical safety checklists were introduced to improve patient safety. Urban and rural hospitals are influenced by differing factors, but how these factors affect patient care is unknown. This study examined time-out and checklist processes in rural and urban operating rooms and found that although checklist use has been adopted in many organizations, use is inconsistent across both settings. An understanding of these variations is needed to improve utilization.
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J Educ Perioper Med · Jan 2017
An Evaluation of CA-1 Residents' Adherence to a Standardized Handoff Checklist.
Poor-quality handoffs are a significant cause of preventable medical errors and adverse events. Handoff checklists improve handoffs but adherence to these tools is often inconsistent. In our study we aimed to investigate the effects of simulated handoff workshop and clinical instruction on resident handoff quality. ⋯ The current method of education for handoffs does not ensure resident adherence to a standardized handoff technique. We propose that the inclusion of a written or electronic handoff checklist should be enforced and refresher courses should be administered early and frequently.
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Although pediatric regional anesthesia has a demonstrated record of safety, adverse events, especially those related to block performance issues, still may occur. To reduce the frequency of those events, we developed a Regional Anesthesia Time-Out Checklist using expert opinion and the Delphi method. ⋯ The Delphi method and human factors principles enabled the creation of a Regional Anesthesia Time-Out Checklist based on published and experiential knowledge of adverse events. Usability of the checklist was supported through the results of a pilot study.
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Irreproducibility of preclinical biomedical research has gained recent attention. It is suggested that requiring authors to complete a checklist at the time of manuscript submission would improve the quality and transparency of scientific reporting, and ultimately enhance reproducibility. Whether a checklist enhances quality and transparency in reporting preclinical animal studies, however, has not been empirically studied. ⋯ Specifically, improvement in reporting of the three methodological information was at least three times greater when a mandatory checklist was implemented than when it was not. Reporting the sex of animals and the number of independent experiments performed also improved from 2013 to 2015, likely from factors not related to a checklist. Our study demonstrates that completing a checklist at manuscript submission is associated with improved reporting of key methodological information in preclinical animal studies.
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Anaesth Intensive Care · Jan 2017
The addition of tick-boxes related to tobacco cessation improves smoking-related documentation in the anaesthesia chart.
The Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists (ANZCA) 'Guidelines on Smoking as Related to the Perioperative Period (PS12)' recommends that anaesthetists should always ask about smoking, advise quitting and refer patients to their general practitioner (GP) or a telephone quit-line for quit support. In this study we evaluated the effect of adding tick-boxes for 'quit advice given' and 'referral to GP/Quitline' to anaesthesia charts of elective surgical patients to assess whether this intervention changed documentation of compliance with the ANZCA guideline. The anaesthesia charts of all smokers were reviewed for evidence of asking, advising and referring, over two three-month periods (n=999) separated by the intervention of placing a sticker to modify the preoperative charts of all elective patients which added tick-box prompts of advice and referral. ⋯ Evidence of advice to quit was 1.8% prior to, rising to 18.7% after, the intervention (P <0.001), while evidence of referral rose from 0.9% to 5.8%. There was negligible change in non-elective patients, who did not receive the intervention. The addition of tick-boxes improved the documentation of smoking cessation support, but as documented rates of quit support remained relatively low even after the intervention, tick-boxes alone cannot be relied upon to improve alignment of care with the ANZCA guidelines.