Checklists as a central part of surgical safety culture

Abstract

The number of surgical procedures performed is increasing worldwide. In 2004, the number of major operations performed reached 281 million, i.e. approximately one operation per year for every 25 individuals. 1 However, the numbers of complications among surgical patients has also been increasing and this has become the greatest cause of death and disability worldwide. 2 A systematic review has demonstrated that one in every 150 hospitalized patients dies as a consequence of complications related to an adverse event and that almost two thirds of these deaths are associated with surgical treatment. 3 Half of these adverse events are considered to be avoidable. 4 In the 1970s, following a series of air accidents, analysis on these events demonstrated that a combination of stress, fatigue, lack of communication and avoidable errors caused up to 80% of them. 5 Through use of safety checklists and continuous training for crews, the incidence of air accidents has continually fallen since then, despite significant increases in the volume of air traffic. These checklists are now used routinely in aviation and other high-complexity industries. 6 Use of checklists offers a singular opportunity to correct any problems before proceeding and provides awareness of situations that are still to come.Faced with such evidence regarding patient safety, in 2002 the World Health Organization (WHO) adopted resolution 5518 (WHA 55.18), which called on its member countries to strengthen the care taken regarding safety, and demanded standardization of norms in order to construct a culture of surgical safety. Soon afterwards, in May 2004, it launched the campaign "WHO Patient Safety", in which leaders of prominent healthcare institutions, political representatives and patient groups around the world came together with the aim of reducing the numbers of adverse events caused by lack of care for patients.

Determinants of Patient Safety Culture: The Role of Safety Leadership Interactions

“…Patient safety culture is a health service governance system that seeks to minimize the risk of patient injury due to poor quality service processes (Donaldson et al, 2020), Patient safety culture is a work guide for health workers to provide services safely with the main focus being patient safety (Azyabi et al, 2022), Patient safety culture can be achieved through a work system based on interprofessional collaboration (Amarneh & Al Nobani, 2022), and specifically in surgical services, the surgical safety checklist is an interprofessional communication tool as a main part of patient safety culture (Mejia & Fernandes, 2022), Furthermore, the role of a leader who focuses on occupational health and safety programs, plays his leadership function to direct his members to realize a culture of patient safety (Wei & Kuo, 2023). This description explains that patient safety culture is a system that seeks to shape the way health workers work to pay attention to important aspects in detail so as not to cause patient injury, so the way of work must be carried out with the concept of interprofessional collaboration so that there is no overlapping of work in one work unit.…”

“…The concept of occupational health and safety is explicitly aimed not only at the occupational health and safety of members of the organization, but also at other people who are recipients of services, if the organization is service-based. The occupational health and safety program seeks to create a conducive work environment where occupational health and safety can be realized (Shiri et al, 2023), In the health care industry, the effectiveness of occupational health and safety programs is proven by the establishment of health workers' compliance with the patient safety culture system (Wagner et al, 2020), and a culture of patient safety can be achieved through a work system based on interprofessional collaboration (Amarneh & Al Nobani, 2022), and specifically in surgical services, the surgical safety checklist is an interprofessional communication tool as a main part of patient safety culture (Mejia & Fernandes, 2022), Furthermore, the role of a leader who focuses on occupational health and safety programs, plays his leadership function to direct his members to realize a culture of patient safety (Wei & Kuo, 2023).…”