Crew resource management improved perception of patient safety in the operating room

Dennis Gore, Jennifer M. Powell, Jennifer G. Baer, Karen H. Sexton, C. Joan Richardson, David R. Marshall, David L. Chinkes, Courtney M. Townsend

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

48 Scopus citations

Abstract

To improve safety in the operating theater, a company of aviation pilots was employed to guide implementation of preprocedural briefings. A 5-point Likert scale survey that assessed the attitudes of operating room personnel toward patient safety was distributed before and 6 months following implementation of the briefings. Using Mann-Whitney analysis, the survey showed a significant (P <. 05) improvement in 2 questions (of 13) involving reporting error and 2 questions (of 11) involving patient safety climate. When analyzed by occupation, there were no significant changes for faculty physicians; for resident physicians, there was a significant improvement in 1 question (of 13) regarding error reporting. For nurses, there were significant improvements in 3 questions (of 4) involving teamwork, 1 question (of 13) involving reporting error, and 3 questions (of 11) regarding patient safety climate. These results suggest that aviation-based crew resource management initiatives lead to an improved perception of patient safety, which was largely demonstrated by nursing personnel.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)60-63
Number of pages4
JournalAmerican Journal of Medical Quality
Volume25
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 2010

Keywords

  • Communication
  • Crew resource management
  • Health care quality improvement
  • Surgery
  • Team

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Medicine(all)

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