title: Surgical team member assessment of the safety of surgery practice in 38 South Carolina hospitals.
abstract: We assessed surgical team member perceptions of multiple dimensions of safe surgical practice in 38 South Carolina hospitals participating in a statewide initiative to implement surgical safety checklists. Primary data were collected using a novel 35-item survey. We calculated the percentage of 1,852 respondents with strongly positive, positive, and neutral/negative responses about the safety of surgical practice, compared results by hospital and professional discipline, and examined how readiness, teamwork, and adherence related to staff perception of care quality. Overall, 78% of responses were positive about surgical safety at respondent's hospitals, but in each survey dimension, from 16% to 40% of responses were neutral/negative, suggesting significant opportunity to improve surgical safety. Respondents not reporting they would feel safe being treated in their operating rooms varied from 0% to 57% among hospitals. Surgeons responded more positively than nonsurgeons. Readiness, teamwork, and practice adherence related directly to staff perceptions of patient safety (p < .001).
authors.affiliation: Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA ssinger@hsph.harvard.edu.
authors.forename: Sara J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Singer
authors.affiliation: Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.affiliation: Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Lyen C
authors.initials: LC
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: South Carolina Hospital Association, Columbia, SC, USA.
authors.forename: Lorri
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Gibbons
authors.affiliation: Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Mathew V
authors.initials: MV
authors.lastname: Kiang
authors.affiliation: Ariadne Labs, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Lizabeth
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Edmondson
authors.affiliation: Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA Ariadne Labs, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Atul A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Gawande
authors.affiliation: Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA Ariadne Labs, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: William R
authors.initials: WR
authors.lastname: Berry
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D057189:Checklist; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009873:Operating Rooms; D010348:Patient Care Team; D061214:Patient Safety; D013022:South Carolina; D013503:Surgery Department, Hospital; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: checklist; health delivery innovation; implementation; surgery; survey