THE CONNECTION BETWEEN DEBRIEFING AND A CULTURE OF SAFETY IN THE OPERATING ROOM

Rita K. Thompson
2019 Zenodo  
Staff perception of the culture of safety in addition to other barriers were identified as potential contributors to inconsistent performance of debriefing procedures at a Southern California medical center hospital, 12-suite, surgical department. The Joint Commission (TJC) has identified ineffective communication as a critical contributor to events related to patient safety regarding healthcare. Evidence shows a standardized process for debriefing based on staff input can improve the
more » ... to performing debriefings. This quality improvement project aimed to improve the consistency in use of the debriefing process in the operating room (OR) through assessments of barriers, the perceptions of what constitutes a culture of safety, and proposed revisions to the standardized process to performance of debriefings in order to improve consistency and accuracy. The surgical safety checklist (SSC) is a tool to assist with decreasing errors and improving teamwork and communication in the OR and procedural areas. The debriefing process is an essential element of the SSC that contributes to a culture of effective communication and patient safety. There is evidence to support that when the debriefing process is integrated properly such as use as part of the SSC, it contributes to a culture of effective communication which in turn has been shown to be a vital part of an OR culture where patient safety is understood and a top priority (Donnelly, 2017). In this quality improvement project, forty-two (42) of the total 81 (52%) staff at the medical center participated in voluntary completion of survey assessments selected to iv identify their perceptions of what makes a culture of safety and confidence around performing debriefings. Demographic practice and role related data was also collected which revealed an experienced staff with 61.7% having 11 or more years of experience in the OR setting. Key results from a modified version of the Safety Assessment Questionnaire (SAQ) revealed only 45.24% of the staff "strongly agreed" [...]
doi:10.5281/zenodo.4503671 fatcat:lqbico5h3bgxpmijcd256teplq