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Staff attitudes to and compliance with the use of a surgical safety checklist
Author(s) -
Kilbane H.,
Oxtoby C.,
Tivers M. S.
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
journal of small animal practice
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.7
H-Index - 67
eISSN - 1748-5827
pISSN - 0022-4510
DOI - 10.1111/jsap.13131
Subject(s) - checklist , medicine , patient safety , audit , teamwork , time out , nursing , safety culture , compliance (psychology) , medical emergency , health care , psychology , management , political science , law , economics , cognitive psychology , economic growth , social psychology
Objectives To investigate staff attitudes to the use of a surgical safety checklist in a small animal operating room and to gain insight into barriers to use. Materials and Methods A questionnaire was designed and used to assess attitudes of 36 operating room personnel to the checklist. The checklist was retrospectively audited on 984 patients over an 8‐month period to investigate compliance. Results Responses were obtained from 100% of operating room personnel. Attitudes to the checklist were positive, with 83.4% agreeing that it improved teamwork and 100% agreed that the checklist improved patient safety, reduced error and was best practice. Most personnel (94%) believed that a completed checklist was used for every procedure. Several barriers were highlighted, including issues of hierarchy and team‐working and lack of training. 984 checklists were used during the study period with 83 (8.4%) being fully completed. Clinical Significance Surgical safety checklists have potential to improve patient safety in veterinary operating rooms. However, appropriate design and implementation are critical and surgeons should endeavour to support checklist use.