Surgical Safety Checklists in Children's Surgery: Surgeons' Attitudes and Review of the Literature

Abstract

Introduction: Surgical safety checklists (SSCs) aim to create a safe operating room environment for surgical patients. Provider attitudes toward checklists affect their ability to prevent harm. Pediatric surgeons' perceptions surrounding SSCs, and their role in improving patient safety, are unknown.

Methods: American Pediatric Surgical Association members conducted an online survey to evaluate the use of and attitudes toward SSCs. The survey measured surgeons' perceptions of checklists, including the components that make them effective and barriers to participation. To better evaluate the available data on SSCs, the authors performed a systematic literature review on the use of SSCs with a focus on pediatric studies.

Results: Of the 353 survey respondents, 93.6% use SSCs and 62.6% would want one used in their own child's operation, but only 54.7% felt that checklists improve patient safety. Reasons for checklist skepticism included the length of the checklist process, a distraction from thoughtful patient care, and lack of data supporting use. Literature review shows that checklists improve communication, promote teamwork, and identify errors, but do not necessarily decrease morbidity. Staff perception is a major barrier to implementation.

Conclusions: Almost all pediatric surgeons participate in SSCs at their institutions, but many question their benefit. Better pediatric surgeon engagement in checklist use is needed to change the safety culture, improve operating room communication, and prevent harm.