Patient safety in operating room: Thoughts of surgery team members on implementing the Safe Surgery Checklist (An example from Turkey)

Abstract

PurposeThe ‘Safe Surgery Checklist’ (SSC) was created as part of the ‘Safe Surgery Saves Lives’ project; its aim was to provide safety during surgery. The Safe Surgery Checklist was adopted under the name of ‘Safe Surgery ChecklistTR’ (SSCTR) in Turkey in 2009. To determine the attitudes of surgery team members toward implementing safe surgery checklists in operating rooms. DesignThe study was planned as a descriptive model. MethodThe study was conducted with 303 surgery team members working in operating rooms of hospitals located in the Trabzon city centre. Data were gathered using a questionnaire of 29 items developed by the researcher and evaluated by number, percentage and chi-square test. ResultsIt was found out that nearly three-fourths of the surgery team members believed that SSCTR contributed to patient safety; however, only half thought that SSCTR was properly implemented at their institutions. Most participants pointed out that the implementation of SSCTR differed depending on whether the surgery was urgent or planned, the scale of the surgery and the attitudes of surgery team members toward the implementation of the checklist. The surgery team members who answered all items and questions in the list outnumbered those who did not. The items and questions that were answered and ticked the most included questions regarding the patient's allergy history, preparation and sterilisation of the kits to be used in the surgery and confirming the unit to which the patient was to be sent after surgery. In evaluating the answered questions related to the SSCTR; the steps least often performed included implementation of ‘Anaesthesia Safety Checklist’, team members introducing themselves to the patient, confirming the patient's identity and verifying the surgery type and site. ConclusionsWe suggest that the results of this study will facilitate increased implementation of SSCTR.