Improving communication components of the surgical safety checklist in the perioperative setting

Abstract

Effective communication between members of the health care team and patients is essential for providing safe and consistent care. Despite this, communication errors continue to occur, being involved in over 70 per cent of sentinel events and contributing to patient morbidity and mortality. Standardised frameworks exist to guide structured communication, with the surgical safety checklist used in the perioperative setting to improve patient safety and teamwork. However, the elements which facilitate interdisciplinary communication are those most commonly overlooked. Continual auditing and critical evaluation are necessary to ensure workplace communication frameworks are implemented in a manner that aligns with
service delivery and provides optimal patient outcomes. This paper describes the communication components of and evidence behind the surgical safety checklist, the commonly experienced challenges implementing it in the workplace and strategies to improve compliance in the clinical setting.