The Role of Checklists and Human Factors for Improved Patient Safety in Plastic Surgery

Abstract

Over the past 20 years, there has been increased attention to improving all aspects of patient safety and, in particular, the important role of checklists and human factors. This article gives a condensed overview of selected aspects of patient safety and aims to raise the awareness of the reader and encourage further study of referenced literature, with the goal of increased knowledge and use of proven safety methods. The CME questions should help indicate where there is still potential for improvement in patient safety, namely, in the field of nontechnical skills.

Medical Students’ Insights Towards Patient Safety

“…6 Patient safety systems encourage education and training on patient safety topics by providing useful tools such as checklists, structured language, or set of phrases the team has agreed to use in operating rooms. 7 In 2009, the World Health Organization (WHO) stated the importance of incorporating patient safety into medical curricula in order to orient medical students to the need for patient safety. 8 The WHO's Patient Safety Curriculum Guide for Medical Schools contains 11 evidencebased chapters on patient safety and demonstrates that traditional medical schools teach and assess student performance in three main areas: medical knowledge, technical skills and clinical decision-making.…”

The Impact of Human Factors on the Safety of Operating Rooms and everyday Surgical Practice

“…Several observational tools, methodologies and analytical approaches have since been developed to identify and address SFDs. 14,16,[28][29][30] The interventions most often proposed in the literature and used in surgical practice include use of checklists, 12,28,31 preoperative briefing, 12 team workbased training courses, 12,27 usability testing to enhance surgical safety, 15,23,26,32,33 standardization of processes and development of a culture safety. 16,34 Although most of the above may be considered as 'common sense,' 33 the effectiveness of an HFE program designed to address OR resiliency cannot be taken for granted.…”

Helping nurses help PIVCs: decision aids for daily assessment and maintenance

“…When strictly adhered to, surgical safety checklists have been credited with a decrease in post-operative complications, most likely due to improved team communication and increased detection of potential errors (C. S. Webster, 2017). However, checklists need to be reviewed and updated regularly in consultation with the end-users, rather than simply implemented by management to improve metrics (Catchpole & Russ, 2015;Oppikofer & Schwappach, 2017). Furthermore, while checklists can improve bundle compliance and patient safety, excessive use of checklists can overburden caregivers and lead to checklist fatigue (Hales & Pronovost, 2006).…”