title: [Improving patient safety: Usefulness of safety checklists in a neonatal unit].
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Due to the complexity and characteristics of their patients, neonatal units are risk areas for the development of adverse events (AE). For this reason, there is a need to introduce and implement some tools and strategies that will help to improve the safety of the neonatal patient. Safety check-lists have shown to be a useful tool in other health areas but they are not sufficiently developed in Neonatal Units.
  
  
  METHODS
  A quasi-experimental prospective study was conducted on the design and implementation of the use of a checklist and evaluation of its usefulness for detecting incidents. The satisfaction of the health professionals on using the checklist tool was also assessed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The compliance rate in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) was 56.5%, with 4.03 incidents per patient being detected. One incident was detected for every 5.3 checklists used. The most frequent detected incidents were those related to medication, followed by inadequate alarm thresholds, adjustments of the monitors, and medication pumps. The large majority (75%) of the NICU health professionals considered the checklist useful or very useful, and 68.75% considered that its use had managed to avoid an AE. The overall satisfaction was 83.33% for the professionals with less than 5 years working experience, and 44.4% of the professionals with more than 5 years of experience were pleased or very pleased.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The checklists have shown to be a useful tool for the detection of incidents, especially in NICU, with a positive assessment from the health professionals of the unit.
authors.affiliation: Servicio de Neonatología, Hospital General Universitario Gregorio Marañón, Madrid, España. Electronic address: maria.arriaga@salud.madrid.org.
authors.forename: María
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Arriaga Redondo
authors.affiliation: Servicio de Neonatología, Hospital General Universitario Gregorio Marañón, Madrid, España.
authors.forename: Ester
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Sanz López
authors.affiliation: Servicio de Neonatología, Hospital General Universitario Gregorio Marañón, Madrid, España.
authors.forename: Ana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rodríguez Sánchez de la Blanca
authors.affiliation: Servicio de Neonatología, Hospital General Universitario Gregorio Marañón, Madrid, España.
authors.forename: Itziar
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Marsinyach Ros
authors.affiliation: Servicio de Medicina Preventiva y Gestión de Calidad, Hospital General Universitario Gregorio Marañón, Madrid, España.
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Collados Gómez
authors.affiliation: Servicio de Medicina Preventiva y Gestión de Calidad, Hospital General Universitario Gregorio Marañón, Madrid, España.
authors.forename: Alicia
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Díaz Redondo
authors.affiliation: Servicio de Neonatología, Hospital General Universitario Gregorio Marañón, Madrid, España.
authors.forename: Manuel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sánchez Luna
mesh_terms: D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D057189:Checklist; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007363:Intensive Care Units, Neonatal; D061214:Patient Safety / Q000592:standards*; D011446:Prospective Studies
keywords: Checklist; Lista de verificación; Neonatal intensive care unit; Neonato; Neonatology; Neonatología; Newborn; Patient safety; Seguridad del paciente; Unidad de cuidados intensivos neonatales