Fundamentals of the Perioperative Environment for Registered Nurses

Safety Oversight in Canada

The Canadian Medical Protection Agency (CMPA), the Healthcare Insurance Reciprocal of Canada (HIROC), and the Canadian Patient Safety Institute (CPSI) all provide research, statistics, policies and procedures, and competencies to inform healthcare providers about practices intended to lead to a culture of safety across the patient care continuum.

Enhancing Patient Safety Across Health Professions

Patient Safety Culture
Patient safety culture improvement needs ongoing collaboration and advocates for change.

Teamwork
Collaborative interprofessional teams demonstrate competencies essential to safe practice.

Communication
Communication builds trust between patients and healthcare providers and is essential for obtaining patient informed consent.

Safety, Risk, and Quality Improvement
Safety, risk, and quality improvement depends on collection and monitoring of performance data.

Optimize Human and System Factors
Optimizing human and environmental systems supports healthcare safety competence.

Recognize Respond to and Disclosure Patient Safety Incidents
Recognizing, responding to, and disclosing patient safety incidents to all stakeholders with appropriate apologies, benefits all.

Primary Adverse Events

In operating rooms, the most common adverse events are:

  1. airway problems
  2. excessive bleeding
  3. wrong site surgery
  4. equipment malfunctions
  5. retained foreign bodies

Simplified Airway Risk Index SARI

Here is an example of an airway risk assessment chart. The anesthesia care team will use this chart to assess a patient’s risk of potential airway problems prior to entering the operating room. Based on this assessment, the perioperative team will take extra steps to mitigate potential airway problems.

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Watch this quick video on never events: