Robotic surgeries of long duration are associated with both increased risks to patients as well as distinct challenges for care providers. We propose a surgical checklist, to be completed during a second "time-out", aimed at reducing peri-operative complications and addressing obstacles presented by lengthy robotic surgeries. A review of the literature was performed to identify the most common ...

In a previous issue of Critical Care, Simon and colleagues [1] reported the incidence of death related to percutaneous tracheostomy (PT). Fatal complications occurred in 31% of cases during the procedure and in 49% of cases within the first week of the tracheostomy [1]. In a later issue of Critical Care, Rajendran and Hutchinson [2] suggested the use of a checklist, adapted from the World Healt...

Checklists have been shown to improve patient outcomes. Checklist use is seen in the pre-operative to post-operative phases of the patient pathway. An adhesive checklist was developed for ward rounds due to the positive impact it could have on improving patient safety. Over an eight day period data were collected from five consultant-led teams that were randomly selected from the surgical depar...

A medication safety project for operating rooms (ORs) was initiated under the leadership of the Departments of Anesthesia and Nursing with a representative from the Canadian Anesthesiologists' Society and the Institute for Safe Medication Practices Canada. The aims of the collaborative project were twofold: (1) to identify areas of exposure to risk and make recommendations to enhance medication...

We involved the parents of paediatric patients in the first part of the three-stage WHO Surgical Safety Checklist (SSC) process. Forty-two parents took part in the study. They came to the theatre suite with their child and into the induction room. Immediately before induction of anaesthesia they were present at, and took part in, the first stage of the three-stage SSC process, confirming with s...