To Evaluate Compliance, Effectiveness, and Influencing Factors of Surgical Time-Out Protocols in Operating Rooms: Evidence from a Tertiary Care Hospital in India
Keywords:
Surgical Time-Out, Patient Safety, Operating Room Protocols, Compliance Assessment, Clinical Effectiveness, Healthcare QualityAbstract
Patient safety remains a critical concern in surgical care, where preventable errors continue to contribute significantly to morbidity and mortality. The surgical time-out protocol, a key component of the World Health Organization’s Surgical Safety Checklist, is designed to minimize such risks by ensuring structured verification and promoting effective team communication before surgical incision. The present study evaluates the compliance and effectiveness of surgical time-out protocols and examines the influence of surgeon involvement, team dynamics, and environmental barriers in a tertiary care hospital in India. Adopting an observational cross-sectional design, the study analyzed 103 surgical cases through incident report reviews and observational insights. The findings reveal that although reported compliance rates are high, the effectiveness of the protocol is often compromised due to superficial adherence, hierarchical dominance, and time pressure. Surgeon involvement and team communication emerged as significant determinants of successful implementation, while distractions and resistance to protocols negatively impacted outcomes. The study concludes that compliance alone is insufficient to ensure patient safety, and emphasizes the need for training, leadership engagement, and qualitative auditing to enhance the effectiveness of surgical time-out protocols.
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