Elements of time out include the confirmation of name and role of team members, patient’s identity, surgical site and procedure, the review of anticipated critical events, confirmation that prophylactic antibiotics have been administered ≤60 min before incision is made or that antibiotics are not indicated, and confirmation that all essential imaging results for the correct patient are displayed in the operating room. Time out is performed immediately before incision, involving all members of the operating team. It is a means to ensure clear communication among the team and avoiding wrong site and wrong patient errors (1). At this time, all team members of the operating team verbally confirm the identity of the patient, the operative site and the procedure to be performed. The WHO guidelines for safe surgery (2009) defines a ‘time out’ or ‘surgical pause’ as a “brief, less than one minute stop in the operating room immediately prior to skin excision”. If you would like to see the WHO’s Surgical Checklist example: CLICK HERE The ‘time out’ is an essential and necessary component of the WHO Surgical Safety Checklist (SCC)(1). These checklists were adopted globally and includes ‘time out’ as one of the checklists components. These checklists were developed to facilitate patient care through operating theatres by providing a process for identification, equipment set up, imaging requirements and clinical care. Over 20 years ago, wrong sided and wrong patient surgery was identified and the World Health Organisation (WHO) developed the Surgical Safety Checklist. Within the post, you will find the answers to the frequently asked questions among nurses in regards to time out. In this post I am going to look at what a ‘time out’ is, where it came from and why we do it. I also had a number of DM’s requesting more information about the topic. Of the group who responded, almost 50% indicated they did not know what this was. A couple of weeks ago in my instagram stories I asked if the Aussie Nurse Educator (ANE) community knew what a ‘time out’ was. Hey Friends, welcome back to today’s blog where I talk about a ‘Time Out’.
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