Question

Should the surgical technologist pass the knife to the surgeon before TIMEOUT has been performed?

You must have a minimum of 100 words in your original post. You must respond to 3 of your fellow classmates with a minimum of 50 words

Answer 1

Ans.

The surgical "time out" represents the last part of the Universal Protocol and is performed in the operating room, immediately before the planned procedure is initiated. The "time out" represents the final recapitulation and reassurance of accurate patient identity, surgical site, and planned procedure.

A "time out" is called by any member of the surgical team, but usually by a specifically designated person, e.g. the circulation nurse.

Ideally, the patient should be awake and participate in the verification process of patient identity, surgical site, and planned procedure (so-called "awake time out").

The "time out" process must be standardized at every institution.

The immediate members of the procedure team (i.e. surgeon, anaesthesia provider, circulating nurse, and operating room technician) must actively participate in the "time out".

During the "time out", all other activities are suspended to an extent which does not compromise patient safety.

The "time out" must be repeated intraoperatively for every additional procedure performed on the same patient.

The time-out involves the immediate members of the procedure team: the individual performing the procedure, anesthesia providers, circulating nurse, operating room technician, and other active participants who will be participating in the procedure from the beginning.

chest tube insertion, lumbar puncture, paracentesis, or procedures using sedation) that should utilize timeouts. The authors point out that the ED environment might be especially at risk for wrong-patient, wrong-site procedures because of multiple factors (time pressures, multiple providers, multiple handoffs, etc.).

Five Steps to Safer Surgery is a surgical safety checklist. It involves briefing, sign-in, timeout, sign-out and debriefing, and is now advocated by the National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA) for all patients in England and Wales undergoing surgical procedures.