A Novel Checklist Approach to Reduce Time Under Anesthesia in Neurosurgery

Area of Science:

• Neurosurgery
• Operating Room Management
• Patient Safety

Background:

• Neurosurgical procedures demand extensive preparation and operating room setup before the initial incision.
• Neurosurgical delay is defined as the time from anesthesia induction start to the surgeon's first incision.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify and analyze delays in neurosurgical procedures.
• To investigate methods for reducing neurosurgical delays and improving patient care.

Main Methods:

• Observation of 30 random neurosurgery procedures.
• Data collection at 4 specific time intervals during the procedures.

Main Results:

• The primary bottleneck identified was the interval from anesthesia induction completion to the surgeon's first cut, averaging 33 minutes.
• This delay accounted for 50% more time than other intervals, highlighting its significance.
• Reducing this specific delay improves patient care, satisfaction, and operational flow.

Conclusions:

• Sequential checklists can effectively reduce operational neurosurgical delays by managing phase variability.
• A novel modular checklist approach minimizes errors and variability between phases.
• Implementing these strategies leads to a reduction in the patient's total anesthesia time.