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Annals of Surgery
Volume 258, Number 6, December 2013
The Impact of Safety Checklists on Teamwork in Surgery
TABLE 1.
Study Characteristics
Authors
Year
Type of Checklist
Outcome Assessed
∗
Study Methodology
†
Country
Setting
Surgical Specialty
DeFontes and Surbida
24
2004 Patient-specific
preoperative briefing
checklist
Teamwork climate
Survey—Pre/post
(6 months before checklist
implementation and 6 months
after).
USA, Orange
County
1 medical center at
an integrated
managed care
consortium
Multispecialty
Lingard et al
25
2005 Patient-specific
checklist designed to
prompt preoperative
discussion
Team building and exchange
of information
Interviews and observations (real
ORs)—Post
(Checklist implementation took
place over 7 weeks during
which observations were
conducted)
Canada
1 quaternary
academic center
Vascular surgery
Makary et al
26
2007 Patient-specific
preoperative briefing
checklist
Team coordination and
quality of decision making
Surveys—pre/post
(Pre–data collection lasted 5
months, checklist was
implemented for 3 months,
post–data collection lasted 2
months)
USA
1 tertiary academic
center
General surgery,
plastic surgery,
neurosurgery
Nundy et al (same
group as above)
27
2008 Patient-specific
preoperative briefing
checklist
Communication breakdowns
resulting in delays in
starting surgical procedures
Surveys—Pre/post
(pre–data collection lasted 2
months, checklist was
implemented for 3 months,
post–data collection lasted 2
months)
USA
1 tertiary academic
center
General surgery,
plastic surgery,
neurosurgery
Koutantji et al
28
2008 Patient-specific safety
checklist with pre,
intra- and
postoperative
components
Quality of teamwork
(decision making,
communication,
leadership, and overall
teamwork) and perceived
impact of checklist on
teamwork and
communication
Surveys and observations (in
simulated OR)—pre/post
(Simulation session lasted 4–5 h
in total. One scenario was
completed without the
checklist at the start of the
session, another was
completed with the checklist at
the end of the session)
UK, London
1 large university
hospital
Simulations of
general and
vascular surgery
procedures
Lingard et al
29
2008 Patient-specific
checklist designed to
prompt preoperative
discussion
Communication failures and
perceived impact of
checklist on proactive team
communication
Observations (real
ORs)—pre/post
(Pre–data collection lasted 5
months, the checklist was then
implemented over 3 months,
post–data collection then
commenced over 5 months.
The study lasted 13 months in
total.)
Canada
1 tertiary academic
center
General surgery
Whyte et al (same
group as above)
30
2008 Patient-specific
checklist designed to
prompt preoperative
discussion
Negative teamwork events
specifically linked to
checklist usage
Observation (real ORs)—Post
(Checklist implementation took
place over 7 weeks during
which observations were
conducted.)
Canada
1 tertiary academic
center
General surgery
(
continued
)
C
2013 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins
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