Surgical Safety Checklist (SSCL)

What is a surgical safety checklist?

In September of 2009, the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care announced a safety checklist tool to further its goal of improving patient safety in Ontario hospitals - the Surgical Safety Checklist (SSC).

This checklist is a one-page list of 26 of the most common tasks and items that operating room teams carry out to ensure patient safety. The ministry has identified the Canadian Patient Safety Institute (CPSI) Surgical Safety Checklist as the checklist to be adopted by all hospitals, acknowledging that hospitals may need to modify the checklist to meet their needs.

Why is it important to patient safety?

The Surgical Safety Checklist is completed by the operating room team to ensure patient safety by reviewing the most common safety points. For example, the patient will be asked to confirm consent for the correct surgery, and whether the patient has allergies. Patients will be introduced to the surgical team and may hear a review of their medical surgical history, as it relates to their care.

The process is similar to the routine an airplane pilot uses to review all major safety points on an aircraft prior to takeoff. Our goal is to ensure your safety by confirming that operating team members have addressed all of the necessary safety measures before proceeding with surgery. Accurate completion of the surgical checklist involves addressing all three phases of the operative process: Briefing (prior to patient receiving anesthetic), Time Out ( prior to skin incision) and Debriefing ( prior to completion of the surgery and transfer to Post Anesthetic Care Unit). All hospitals across Ontario with operating rooms will be required to report their use of the Surgical Safety Checklist through the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care, which will publicly report results twice a year beginning July 2010.

Originally developed as a tool to support patient care though professional preparation and teamwork, the consistent use of this checklist has been shown to reduce the rates of death and complications associated with surgical care.

For more general information on the checklist and its use in health care facilities, please proceed to following weblink.

http://www.safesurgerysaveslives.ca

Reportable Surgical Safety Checklist Compliance Rates

Definition:

The percentage of surgeries in which a surgical safety checklist was performed. The surgical safety checklist is considered performed when the designated checklist coordinator confirms that surgical team members have implemented and/or addressed all of the necessary tasks and items in each of the three phases, 'briefing', 'time out' and 'debriefing', of the checklist.

Method of calculation:

The percent compliance is calculated as follows:

# of times all three phases of the surgical safety checklist was performed	X 100 = % compliance
Total surgeries

Inclusions:

All surgical procedures.

For more information of data elements, case definition and reporting requirements, please proceed to the following weblink:

http://www.health.gov.on.ca/patient_safety/

MHA Compliance Report :

surgical_check_list_graphsa

MHA Health Information Guide to Surgical Safety Checklist

Connecting with the Future of Care

Surgical Safety Checklist (SSCL)