Articles: checklist.
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Surgical procedures are now very common, with estimates ranging from 4% of the general population having an operation per annum in economically-developing countries; this rising to 8% in economically-developed countries. Whilst these surgical procedures typically result in considerable improvements to health outcomes, it is increasingly appreciated that surgery is a high risk industry. Tools developed in the aviation industry are beginning to be used to minimise the risk of errors in surgery. One such tool is the World Health Organization's (WHO) surgery checklist. The National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA) manages the largest database of patient safety incidents (PSIs) in the world, already having received over three million reports of episodes of care that could or did result in iatrogenic harm. The aim of this study was to estimate how many incidents of wrong site surgery in orthopaedics that have been reported to the NPSA could have been prevented by the WHO surgical checklist. ⋯ Orthopaedic surgery is a high volume specialty with major technical complexity in terms of equipment demands and staff training and familiarity. There is therefore an increased propensity for errors to occur. Wrong-site surgery still occurs in this specialty and is a potentially devastating situation for both the patient and surgeon. Despite the limitations of inclusion and reporting bias, our study highlights the need to match technical precision with patient safety. Tools such as the WHO surgical checklist can help us to achieve this.
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To plan, implement and evaluate strategies for implementation of Checklist in a general surgery operating rooms and preliminary evaluation of the experience in view of the nurses. ⋯ The qualitative assessment is useful to know the attitudes, opinions and problems of nurses for the implementation of innovations that require interdisciplinary collaboration The application workload increases, but makes visible some activities. The broad participation of nurses reveal their involvement to promote patient safety, but also their training needs. It is essential to the awareness of all professionals to carry out the checklist, which can only be imposed if there is a culture change, innovation and safety and teamwork. For the test does not fall into the routine, it would be wise to do a periodic evaluation. The list should be clear, concise and reliable.