Compliance with a time-out procedure intended to prevent wrong surgery in hospitals:results of a national patient safety programme in the Netherlands

OBJECTIVE: To prevent wrong surgery, the WHO 'Safe Surgery Checklist' was introduced in 2008. The checklist comprises a time-out procedure (TOP): the final step before the start of the surgical procedure where the patient, surgical procedure and side/site are reviewed by the surgical team. The aim of this study is to evaluate the extent to which hospitals carry out the TOP before anaesthesia in the operating room, whether compliance has changed over time, and to determine factors that are associated with compliance. DESIGN: Evaluation study involving observations. SETTING: Operating rooms of 2... Mehr ...