Surgical timeout acknowledgement
Performing a mindful timeout immediately before a surgical procedure is both essential safest care and an imperative for regulatory compliance. Surgery teams must execute all elements of a timeout and document its completion in the patient chart. Internal and external auditors will evaluate patient charts at Lutheran Hospital to quantify our surgery teams’ rate of compliance with this process.
Part of our evaluation includes gathering the signatures of all surgeons, proceduralists and anesthesiologists on Lutheran’s medical staff to confirm they’ve reviewed and understand Lutheran’s timeout procedure. Posters are displayed in all ORs for real-time reference. Please review the below and submit your name at the bottom.
Lutheran’s Timeout Procedure
The surgeon will lead the timeout. The OR is quiet, and everyone is focused on the timeout.
The surgeon reads the patient’s name, date of birth and the procedure about to begin.
The nurse verifies patient consent.
The anesthesiologist confirms the patient’s name, date of birth and the procedure about to begin in Epic.
The entire team confirms the correct site marking. If the positioning of the patient and/or the patient draping obscures the site marking, the operating surgeon will place their initials on the surgical drape on the correct side/site. This marking must remain visible throughout the procedure.
The anesthesiologist will read any medication allergies the patient has or indicate there are none.
The nurse will display any patient imaging, and the team will acknowledge it is correct.
The surgery tech or nurse will identify any implants that might be needed, and the team will confirm the correct implants are present.
The team will identify and acknowledge the Sharps neutral zone.