The Surgical Safety Checklist from the resident's perspective. Observational study

Abstract

Introduction: The Surgical Safety Checklist implemented by the World Health Organization has proven to decrease perioperative morbidity and mortality; however, the barriers and limitations to its implementation are consistently reported in the literature. Objective: To establish the level of appropriation of the surgical safety checklist in the training of human resources in anesthesiology, in addition to identifying the perception and the level of implementation of such checklist at the national scale. Methods: Descriptive cross-sectional study conducted through a survey administered to the residents of anesthesiology in Colombia. Likert-type questions were included, distributed into three domains: appropriation, perception and implementation. Results: 215 answers corresponding to 54.5 % of the population were analyzed, comprising participants from all of the anesthesiology programs in the country. 20% of the residents have never been subject to formal academic reviews about checklists, and this trend did not change throughout the residency; 97.2 % considers that the implementation of the lists improves the safety of surgical procedures and 40 % have seen rejection or indifference by surgeons. 80.5 % of the residents have seen the frequent use of the checklist, while only 13.5% have seen the use of the checklist during the three surgical moments – before the induction of anesthesia, before the surgical incision, and before the patient leaves the operating room -; 88 % have observed that the form is completed without actually doing the verification. Conclusions: There is limited exposure to education about the surgical safety checklist in anesthesiology postgraduate programs in the country. The residents have a favorable perception about the value of the list, however, there are some shortcomings in its administration.