TY - JOUR
T1 - Simple budget-neutral tool to improve intraoperative communication
AU - Dougherty, James
AU - Slowey, Charlie
AU - Hermon, Anne
AU - Wolpaw, Jed
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
©
PY - 2020/11/1
Y1 - 2020/11/1
N2 - Background Communication failure is a common cause of medical errors and adverse events. Within the operating room (OR), there are many barriers to good communication, which can adversely affect patient outcome. Objective Implementing a simple, cost-neutral tool aimed at improving intraoperative communication and engagement. Methods Three anaesthesiology residents collected data using a data sheet and tailored surveys distributed to OR staff. Data were collected over a 2-week period in 2019, with 1 week each of preintervention and postintervention data collection. The intervention consisted of wearing OR caps displaying the first name and role of the anaesthesia resident clearly on the front. Results A total of 20 data sheets and 48 preintervention and postintervention surveys were collected for a response rate of 57%. There was a statistically significant increase in OR staff knowledge of the anaesthesia resident's name (66% vs 100%, p=<0.001), an increase in the mean number of times the surgical providers addressed the anaesthesia residents (3.6 vs 7.8, p=0.0074) and an increase in the mean number of times the surgical providers addressed them by their first name (0.7 vs 4, p=0.0067). Comments received during the intervention were positive with overwhelming support. Conclusions This study demonstrated that a simple, cost-effective intervention can result in dramatic improvement in intraoperative communication and engagement between teams.
AB - Background Communication failure is a common cause of medical errors and adverse events. Within the operating room (OR), there are many barriers to good communication, which can adversely affect patient outcome. Objective Implementing a simple, cost-neutral tool aimed at improving intraoperative communication and engagement. Methods Three anaesthesiology residents collected data using a data sheet and tailored surveys distributed to OR staff. Data were collected over a 2-week period in 2019, with 1 week each of preintervention and postintervention data collection. The intervention consisted of wearing OR caps displaying the first name and role of the anaesthesia resident clearly on the front. Results A total of 20 data sheets and 48 preintervention and postintervention surveys were collected for a response rate of 57%. There was a statistically significant increase in OR staff knowledge of the anaesthesia resident's name (66% vs 100%, p=<0.001), an increase in the mean number of times the surgical providers addressed the anaesthesia residents (3.6 vs 7.8, p=0.0074) and an increase in the mean number of times the surgical providers addressed them by their first name (0.7 vs 4, p=0.0067). Comments received during the intervention were positive with overwhelming support. Conclusions This study demonstrated that a simple, cost-effective intervention can result in dramatic improvement in intraoperative communication and engagement between teams.
KW - adult anaesthesia
KW - quality in health care
KW - surgery
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U2 - 10.1136/postgradmedj-2020-137492
DO - 10.1136/postgradmedj-2020-137492
M3 - Article
C2 - 32371405
AN - SCOPUS:85084685413
SN - 0032-5473
VL - 96
SP - 703
EP - 705
JO - Postgraduate Medical Journal
JF - Postgraduate Medical Journal
IS - 1141
ER -