Title: W.H.O.´s who in the operating theatre team: identification and patient safety
Author(s): Wainwright K. (1), Chatham-Zvelebil N. (1), Daubeny T.1

Institute(s): (1) Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust, Dept of Anaesthesiology, Cosham, United Kingdom


Background and Goal of Study: Approximately 8 million surgical procedures take place each year in England. The World Health Organisation (WHO) introduced the Surgical Safety Checklist (SSC) to change practice in surgical theatres, foster better team communication and to encourage a culture of safety. Despite the SSC including a point where team members introduce themselves by name and role subsequent recollection of this information may be difficult especially in an emergency situation. This project looked at the ability of theatre team members to identify the name and role of their colleagues during routine day case surgery.

Materials and Methods: During the period September to October 2011 staff in operating theatres at Queen Alexandra Hospital, Portsmouth were asked to identify the names and roles of other members of the operating team. Theatre staff were surveyed before and after a whiteboard was installed for recording team members' names and roles. Team members were asked to identify their colleagues without referring to the white board.

Results and Discussion: During the two month period 160 members of operating theatre teams were asked to identify their colleagues. In theatres where no white board was present to record team members names 64/80 respondents correctly identify their colleagues (80%, 0.95 confidence interval (CI): 70-87%) see figure 1. In theatres where team names and roles were recorded on a white board this rose to 80/80 team members being correctly identified (100%, 0.95 CI: 96-100%).
The addition of a white board on the wall of the operating theatre led to a marked improvement in name and role identification. This improvement may reflect increased recollection of the original team briefing process.

Conclusion(s): In both routine and emergency situations the ability to communicate effectively within the team is integral to the safety of the patient. Knowing the names and roles of other members of the team is fundamental to the WHO SSC and to building successful, safe operating theatre teams. Future work could focus on whether improved identification of team members in a routine operating theatre environment results in improved patient outcomes.

Who´s who in the operating theatre team: identification and patient safety