The Safe Surgery Saves Lives initiative was established by the World Alliance for Patient Safety as part of the World Health Organization’s (WHO’s) efforts to reduce the number of surgical deaths across the world. The surgical safety checklist (the checklist) is intended to give surgical teams a simple, efficient set of priority checks for ensuring patient safety and facilitating team work and communications in every operation performed. The checklist was launched in New Zealand in August 2009.
The Health Quality and Safety Commission New Zealand commissioned Litmus to undertake a study with theatre personnel to explore attitudes towards the checklist and how it is used in a range of hospitals in New Zealand.
Specifically, the study explored:
- attitudes towards the checklist amongst theatre personnel
- the extent to which the checklist is being used in operating theatres
- facilitators and barriers to the use of the checklist in operating theatres
- changes required that could improve the use of the checklist in operating theatres.
A total of 68 theatre personnel including surgeons, anaesthetists, nurses and anaesthetic technicians were interviewed in five hospitals (study sites). A group of patients who had undergone elective surgery in a North Island main centre during the past six months were asked about their perceptions and experiences of the checklist. Fieldwork was undertaken between July and August 2012.