The World Health Organisation Surgical Safety Checklist: An Audit of Quality Implementation and Staffs Perspectives at a Tertiary Care Teaching Hospital of Southern India

Dr. Anees Fatima, Dr. Jonnala Sindhu, Dr. N. Lakshmibhaskar, Dr. N. Satyanarayana

Abstract: Background: The World Health Organization (WHO) published the WHO Surgical Safety Checklist (SSC) and Implementation Manual in 2008 in order to increase the safety of patients undergoing surgery. The WHO Surgical Safety Checklist was developed after extensive consultation aiming to decrease errors and adverse events and increase teamwork and communication in surgery. The Checklist has gone on to show significant reduction in both morbidity and mortality and is now used by a majority of surgical providers around the world. Aims & Objectives: 1) To assess the attitudes of staff towards checklist and its implementation. 2) To obtain qualitative data on compliance to the WHO surgical safety checklist in operating theatres at Nizam?s Institute of Medical Sciences. Methods: In this prospective observational study, we passively observed the implementation of modified version of the WHO SSC during elective surgeries and evaluated the compliance with the checklist, percentage of items for which the use of the SSC prompted an action, and level of interaction between the key team players during the conduct of the checklist. Results: Audits were performed on 352 surgical cases from 8 major surgical departments of the tertiary care teaching hospital which revealed maximum compliance with time out part of SSC. Amid the questionnaire distributed to the staff, maximum number of responses were received from nurses. The checklist was initiated mostly by either nurses or anesthetists. Conclusions: WHO SSC is an effective tool in reducing in-hospital complications thus producing a favorable outcome. The study revealed that SSC compliance has improved over the observed period, while its application revealed inconsistencies during the three phases of the SSC.

Keywords: WHO Surgical safety checklist, Patient safety, communication, Sign in, Sign out, Time out

How to Cite?: Dr. Anees Fatima, Dr. Jonnala Sindhu, Dr. N. Lakshmibhaskar, Dr. N. Satyanarayana, "The World Health Organisation Surgical Safety Checklist: An Audit of Quality Implementation and Staffs Perspectives at a Tertiary Care Teaching Hospital of Southern India", Volume 13 Issue 12, December 2024, International Journal of Science and Research (IJSR), Pages: 206-211, https://www.ijsr.net/getabstract.php?paperid=SR241202133551, DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.21275/SR241202133551