Surgical / Procedural Verification

Surgical Verification

Surgical procedures require series of verification process consisting of Sign In, Time Out, and Sign Out. The Surgical Pre-Operative Checklist and the Comprehensive Surgical
Checklist  must be filled up and will be a part of the medical record.
The hospital implements the process of verification, site marking, and TIME OUT procedures as consistent as possible throughout the organization, including the OR and other locations where invasive procedures are done.

The Circulating Nurse can & should prevent the team from progressing to the next phase of surgical verification process until each step is satisfactorily addressed. The Circulating Nurse has the authority to immediately report to the Head of Anesthesia or Medical Director to interfere & correct the situation. Irrespective of the actions taken an Incident Report must be completed.

For emergency cases like life threatening cases, surgical safety checklist can be completed retrospectively at the end of the procedure after the critical situation is over and Incident Report must be completed.

• PRE- OPERATIVE CHECKING– the process of reviewing all available data to verify the accuracy of an anticipated procedure.
• SITE MARKING — The physical marking of the site of surgery using a surgical marking pen.
• SURGICAL/ PROCEDURAL “OPERATING” TEAM — is understood to comprise the surgeons, anesthesia professionals, nurses, technicians & other operating room personnel involved in surgery.
• SIGN IN, TIME OUT, SIGN OUT — a surgical safety process that implements a “STOP PERIOD” that corresponds to three phases of an operation or procedure: Before induction of anesthesia (Sign In), before incision of the skin (Time Out), and before closure of the wound (as applicable) or before the patient leaves the operating room (Sign Out).
• INVASIVE PROCEDURES — include all procedures (surgical, medical, dental) that investigate and/ or treat disease & disorders of the human body through cutting, removing, altering, or insertion of diagnostic/ therapeutic scopes.