Articles: checklist.
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The World Health Organisation (WHO) identified patient safety in surgery as an important public health matter and advised the adoption of a universal peri-operative surgical checklist. An adapted version of the WHO checklist has been mandatory in the National Health Service since 2010. Wrong intraocular lens (IOL) implantation is a particular safety concern in ophthalmology. The Royal College of Ophthalmologists launched a bespoke checklist for cataract surgery in 2010 to reduce the likelihood of preventable errors. We sought to ascertain the use of checklists in cataract surgery in 2012. ⋯ Ninety-three per cent of cataract surgeons responding to the questionnaire report using a surgical checklist and 67% use a team brief. However, only 54% use a checklist, which addresses the selection of the correct intraocular implant. We recommend wider adoption of checklists, which address risks relevant to cataract surgery, in particular the possibility of selection of an incorrect IOL.
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Int J Qual Health Care · Jul 2013
Clinical TrialVentilator-associated pneumonia prevention by education and two combined bedside strategies.
The objective of the study was to reduce the ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) incidence rates through a rational prevention program. ⋯ A reduction in VAP rates and on their risk after a set of preventive tools was observed. However, some other co-interventions not related to the primary interventions may have contributed to these results.
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Ventilator-associated pneumonia is a hospital-acquired infection that may develop in patients 48 hours after mechanical ventilation. The project goal was to determine whether a ventilator-associated pneumonia care bundle checklist embedded into an existing electronic health record would increase completeness of nursing documentation in an intensive care unit setting. With the embedded checklist, there were significant improvements in nursing documentation and a decreased incidence of ventilator-associated pneumonia.
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In 2007, the World Health Organization created a Surgical Safety Checklist (SSC) that encompassed a simple set of surgical safety standards. The threefold purpose of this study was to add ambulatory-specific items to the SSC, to introduce the items into an ambulatory surgical facility, and to determine if patient outcomes regarding postoperative pain and nausea/vomiting improved following implementation. In addition, safety attitudes, antibiotic timing, regional anesthesia/nerve blocks, preemptive pain medications, prophylactic antiemetics, length of stay, and hospital admission were also assessed. ⋯ Potential reasons for lack of uptake and integration include poor "user" buy-in, an overly lengthy checklist, and lack of prioritization of ambulatory-specific items. A shortened SSC was developed based on the results of this study. This trial was registered at ClinicalTrials.gov ID: NCT00934310.
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Editorial Comment
Application of a modified surgical safety checklist: user beware!