Checklist validation for use in safe heart surgery.

Area of Science:

• Cardiovascular Surgery
• Patient Safety
• Healthcare Quality Improvement

Background:

• Cardiac surgery necessitates stringent safety protocols to mitigate risks.
• Standardized tools are crucial for ensuring patient safety in complex surgical procedures.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a checklist instrument for safe cardiac surgery.
• To create a reliable tool for improving patient care in cardiac surgical settings.

Main Methods:

• Methodological research involving literature review and expert content validation.
• A two-stage validation process with 41 expert judges was employed.
• Agreement rates per item were analyzed to determine validity.

Main Results:

• The final checklist comprises 41 validated items.
• Items are categorized into Sign in (1-27), Time out (28-32), and Sign out (33-41).
• All items achieved an agreement rate exceeding 80%.

Conclusions:

• A content-validated 41-item checklist for safe cardiac surgery has been successfully developed.
• The checklist is suitable for implementation to enhance patient care in cardiac surgery.
• This tool supports the standardization of safe practices in cardiac surgical procedures.