Check-list "Patient Safety" in the operating room: one year experience of 40,000 surgical procedures at the university hospital of Nice

• Published in: Annales françaises d'anesthésie et de réanimation Vol. 30; no. 6; pp. 479 - 483
• Main Authors: Rateau, F, Levraut, L, Colombel, A-L, Bernard, J-L, Quaranta, J-F, Cabarrot, P, Raucoules-Aimé, M
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: French
• Published: France 01.06.2011
• Subjects: Benchmarking; Checklist - standards; Documentation; France; General Surgery - standards; Hospitals, University - standards; Humans; Operating Rooms - standards; Patient Care Team; Patients; Safety Management - standards; France
• ISSN: 1769-6623
• DOI: 10.1016/j.annfar.2011.04.003

The implementation of the check-list "Safe surgery saves live" (CL) has proven effective to reduce morbidity and perioperative mortality. Since 1st January 2010 it is a requirement of the HAS as part of the process of certification of hospitals. The CL has been established on all the operating rooms of our hospital after the onset of a near accident. The CL has been computerized to facilitate its adoption by professionals. An internal benchmarking was immediately implemented to allow each surgical specialty to benchmark themselves with other teams. We conducted an audit concerning the CL and periodic assessments in order to learn more precisely concerning the expectations and feelings of medical and nursing teams. Nearly 40 000 CL were collected in the patient record. The completeness of information of some items seems to reflect the difficulty for professionals to realize the difference between traceability and information sharing within the team on the implementation of a protocol. This audit has confirmed the difficulty in sharing information orally. The CL is involved in developing a safety culture in the operating room and led to the establishment of a risk mapping in the operating room and the recovery room and participation in the program error prevention procedure and surgical site through international program "High 5s" whose purpose is to improve the safety of care.