Errors and omissions in anesthesia: a pilot study using a pilot's checklist.
There are recent concerns that anesthesiologists are becoming less skilled in providing general anesthesia for Cesarean delivery. We considered whether a verbal checklist would help in the preparation for this event. We created a list of items to be checked when preparing to administer general anesthesia for a Cesarean delivery using expert opinion. This list was loaded onto an electronic checklist system with voice prompts and tested on 20 anesthesiologists using a high-fidelity anesthesia simulator. Participants omitted to check a median of 13 (range, 7-23) of 40 items. Common omissions included not checking that the difficult intubation trolley was available and not optimizing the patient's head position. Most (95%) participants felt that the checklist was useful and 80% would like to use it for practicing simulated scenarios; 60% preferred a written checklist and 40% preferred the verbal checklist. Important checks may be forgotten when preparing to give a general anesthetic for Cesarean delivery, and the use of a checklist could improve patient safety.
Flinders Clinical Skills and Simulation Unit, Flinders University Department of Anesthesia and Intensive Care, Flinders Medical Centre, Bedford Park, SA 5042, Australia.
Elaine M
EM
Hart
Harry
H
Owen
D000328:Adult; D000758:Anesthesia / Q000592:standards*; D000776:Anesthesiology / Q000295:instrumentation*; D000777:Anesthetics; D001359:Aviation / Q000295:instrumentation*; D002585:Cesarean Section; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D019300:Medical Errors / Q000517:prevention & control*; D016343:Monitoring, Intraoperative / Q000295:instrumentation; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011247:Pregnancy
D000777:Anesthetics