Prevention checklists in surgery and endoscopy

Authors/Editors

Bernstorff, Waldo

Research Areas

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Publication Details

Output type: Journal article

Author list: Von Bernstorff W., Pickartz T., Busemann A.

Publisher: Karger Publishers

Publication year: 2013

Journal: Viszeralmedizin (1662-6664)

Volume number: 29

Issue number: 3

Start page: 143

End page: 149

Number of pages: 7

ISSN: 1662-6664

eISSN: 1662-6672

URL: http://api.elsevier.com/content/abstract/scopus_id:84880721731

Unpaywall Data

Open access status: closed

Abstract

Background: Adverse or even fatal events in medicine do not happen by chance. They usually result from a concatenation of circumstances, also called the failure of the multi-barrier strategy. This has also been shown for other high-risk working environments like aviation or nuclear power plants. In the past few years, checklists have been developed to increase patient safety. These checklists are part of the patient safety barriers. Method: In the search for relevant publications, the online services of Medline and PubMed as well as Google were used. The keywords used comprised 'Checkliste', 'Sicherheitscheckliste', also combined with 'Endoskopie' or 'Endoscopy', 'Surgical Safety Checklist', 'Safety Checklist', 'Checklist', 'Safety Management' and/or 'WHO-Checklist( e)'. Relevant publications concerning endoscopy and surgery were selected and supplemented by our own experiences in surgery and endoscopy. Results: Surgical checklists have been shown to be effective instruments in increasing patient safety as well as in avoiding undesired events. These effects are due to improved communication and interaction between the team members involved, leading to a significantly improved safety culture. Requirements for successful checklists are their optimal design as well as their conscientious and continuous implementation and application, including the responsible involvement of all seniors and the upper management. Conclusions: Surgical checklists provide lasting improvements of the safety culture and patient safety. Their positive effects should be transferred to other medical fields including specialties like endoscopy. © 2013 S. Karger GmbH, Freiburg.

Keywords

Checklist endoscopy, Patient safety, Surgical safety checklist, WHO checklist

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