Introductions During Time-outs: Do Surgical Team Members Know One Another's Names?

Area of Science:

• Healthcare Management
• Patient Safety
• Surgical Team Dynamics

Background:

• The introduction phase of the World Health Organization Surgical Safety Checklist (SSC) is intended to foster team recognition.
• It remains unclear if surgical teams consistently use colleagues' names or value this practice.
• This study investigates the impact of the SSC on name recall within operating room (OR) personnel.

Purpose of the Study:

• To determine if the SSC has a measurable impact on name retention among OR staff.
• To assess OR personnel's perception of the importance of knowing and being known by colleagues' names.

Main Methods:

• Individual interviews were conducted with OR personnel after 25 surgical cases utilizing the SSC.
• Participants were asked to identify all OR staff present and state their views on the importance of name recognition within the team.

Main Results:

• While 98% correctly identified the surgery attending, the surgery attending only recalled 44% of other staff names (p < 0.001).
• Only 62% of OR staff recalled the anesthesiology attending's name.
• The anesthesiology attending correctly identified their resident 100% of the time, compared to 68% for the surgery attending (p = 0.002).

Conclusions:

• The introduction component of the SSC may be perceived as a bureaucratic step rather than a vital safety measure.
• There is a significant gap in name recall among OR team members, potentially hindering effective communication.
• Perfunctory performance of the initial time-out step could compromise the intended safety benefits of the SSC.