Moreover, improved level of communication between surgeons and anesthetists could further help in reducing such events.

Experts are of opinion that systematic use of a checklist before incision can be an effective preventive strategy. (2013) performed in Haukeland University Hospital, it was found that anesthetic personnel have significantly higher scores on frequency of near-miss events as compared to room nurses and surgeons.Īdverse events in the case of surgical patients can be prevented in nearly half of the cases. Among the most important contributing factors in surgical errors are inadequate preoperative checks, communication breakdowns, simple human errors, and technical factors and imaging misidentifications (Haugen et al., 2013). Several human, material, and organizational factors are thought to have a role in causing surgical errors. Research shows that checklists and time out process can help in reducing the surgery errors, thereby helping in confirming the correct site, correct patient, and correct procedure before a surgery. These problems can lead to increased lengths of stay and higher hospital costs (McDowell & McComb, 2014).

Most frequently occurring problems associated with the surgical processes include hemorrhage, postoperative infections, hematoma, accidental puncture or laceration, and mechanical problems of noncardiac devices. Those errors resulted in different degrees of impairment or harm. Moreover, wrong-site procedure errors occured more frequently in surgical patients as compared to nonsurgical patients. In the U.S., about 28% of procedure related adverse events were reported in three different hospitals in 2011. According to the National Patient Safety Agency, 129,419 cases of surgical errors occurred in England and Wales in the year 2007. In a study in the Netherlands, surgical errors were found in about 16% of cases (Haugen, Murugesh, Haaverstad, Eide, & Softeland, 2013). Surgical errors such as wrong side or site, wrong procedure, and/or wrong person, though occur rarely, are considered as highly devastating events. Patient safety is one of the most important medical concerns before, during, and after a surgical procedure. Key words: Time out, Surgery, Safety checklists Introduction It also works on the future directions to help in further studies. This paper deals with some important aspects of the time out process. Therefore, we have to work on the weaknesses in published literature and improve the compliance of operating staff with the checklists including the time out process. Different institutions adapt different checklists, but sometimes the operating staff may not comply with the points in the checklists. That communication may include the formal introduction and the information about the critical steps in the surgery. Before starting any operation, operating staff communicate with each other. Those checklists may also include the information of patient, information of site or side, and information of procedure. a kind of break or pause, before starting any surgical procedure. Usually, those checklists include the time out process, i.e. In the last few years, researchers have started showing great interest in the use of checklists before performing a surgery to reduce surgical errors. Patient safety is important not only for patient but also for medical community, and this safety includes the reduction of medical and surgical errors.

Time out before surgery